Roses and thorns
by Darraiter
Summary: All she wanted was a strong familiar. Something that would help her protect her people and prove that she was more than just a pretty face, that she was a true leader. But when she finally summoned her familiar, she wondered ... had she got more than she had asked for? - Just my fic, "Rosas y Espinas", translated. Hope you like it.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello there!**

**So, I know it's been a while since my last update, but since I'm still trying to finish a couple of chapters, I'll try doing what one of my reviewers asked me for: translating this fic to English.**

**I hope you enjoy it, and that you will forgive any misspelling on my behalf**

* * *

Chapter 1: Free

Vandenberg Air Base, California, year 2012:

-Thank you for coming on such short notice, Dr. Kreinorck- said Professor Jules, a man dressed in a lab coat with short grey hair as he accompanied the other man, dressed in the same way, through the halls of the facility. Behind them, a group of four uniformed soldiers escorted them without saying a word.

-Don't mention it- commented the man named Kreinorck who, despite being around the same age as the other man, was bald. -When my superiors informed me that my presence in the Crusade Project was required, well... it's not like I could say no, right?

-True, true...-Jules commented, smiling a little.

The men who were then walking by the base were two eminent scientists of Gentek. It was one of the leading genetic and biological research companies in the world, as well as being the main collaborators of the Blackwatch Special Forces in the study of possible biological threats and the development of experimental weapons. It had been they who had developed, more than thirty years ago, the virus called Redlight, one of the first variant chains of the virus that was supposed to become a biological weapon of incalculable power. The initial tests in the town of Hope, Idaho, had led to the appearance of the next evolutionary step of the Redlight project: the discovery of Elisabeth Greene (codename: MOTHER), and her unborn child. While the rest of the inhabitants had died or been infected by the virus, Greene became a host of the virus, creating new strains of the virus almost unconsciously. Quickly, the Blackwatch captured Greene, locking her in one of her bases for the subsequent study of her blood, from which the new variant of the virus would be created: the Blacklight. While this was happening, Greene gave birth to a child.

The child, contrary to what was expected, did not seem to present physical or any type of deformity because of the virus, as had happened in the case of his mother and in all the previous hosts, nor did he seem to present any kind of rejection of any kind. Quite the opposite: it was as if the virus and the child were one. He was not an infected, nor was he a human. That child was ... something completely different. As a precaution, he was separated from the mother, and taken to a different base, where he received the code name PARIAH.

MOTHER was taken from one base to another, until finally confined in the main laboratory of the Gentek corporation building, where it would escape during the First Outbreak of the Blacklight virus. Finally, after having infected the vast majority of the city and trying to create an army of mutants, Greene found its end at the hands of another infected much like her, Alex Mercer, who defeated her and consumed her.

PARIAH, on the other hand, remained locked up for the next thirty-four years following his birth, oblivious to all these events. Without ever getting to know his mother or Mercer, PARIAH became the focus of study of the Crusade Project, a project whose sole objective was to study and understand the kind of being that child was, and discover how they could use it as a weapon. To date, none of the scientists who had participated in the project seemed to have had any successful result.

The root of the problem was that PARIAH was simply different from anything they had ever seen before. Although its core was human (leaving aside aspect and character), his abilities and general characteristics did not agree with those of an ordinary human, nor with those of an infected. It seemed to be something located halfway, and at the same time it seemed to be something ... "superior" to both. The more they learned from him, the more Gentek seemed to be convinced of the importance of completing the Crusade Project.

The pair of scientists finally reached a pair of thick double doors, guarded by another pair of guards, where Jules swiped a card through a scanner to open it.

-Curious- Kreinorck commented as the doors opened. -I thought that all Blackwatch facilities had biometric security.

-This is an old base, doctor- explained the other scientist, inviting him to enter. -Also, I believe that this is better. With Mercer running around eating our scientists and soldiers like chips, it's better that we go back to the old systems of keys and cards, instead of fingerprinting, scanning and too much complication.

-Never before the simplest answer had been the most successful- Kreinorck agreed, following his host.

The double doors gave way to a large laboratory, full of strange scientific devices of all kinds: test tubes, microscopes, computers, and other specialized equipment. Seated before these devices was a small army of scientists, who at the time seemed to be very busy working on the project in question. Two guards stood at the entrance and exit gates, standing firm at all times. On the other side of the room, a huge display cabinet sealed with steel plates caught the newcomer's attention.

-PARIAH is behind that?- asked, pointing to the huge steel slabs.

-Indeed, yes. One could say that it is his room.

-Isn't that much security a little bit excessive, Dr. Jules? I mean... Greene was pretty ... "passive", as long as no one approached.

-True, but this thing here is not MOTHER- the other man answered, checking some documents that one of the laboratory's researchers offered him when he saw him arrive-. This one here is more unruly than the other. One time he decided to hit the glass, and gave us one big scare. Since then, we put those plates, and now we only observe him through cameras, for security .- After writing down a couple of figures on the paper, he returned it to the researcher, and told his guest to follow him. Before, but, he asked Kreinorck to order his escort to remain at the door, since his presence in the laboratory would only disturb the rest of the staff. Kreinorck transmitted the order, and the soldiers obeyed without question.

The two scientists went through the laboratory, and arrived to one of the tables in front of the steel plates in which where verious monitors. In several of them you could see figures that represented the vital signs of the subject, in addition to their mental activity. In others you could see the interior of PARIAH's room, and it was in one of those that Dr. Kreinorck focused on.

-Is ... is that PARIAH?- Dr. Jules nodded, pressing a couple of buttons to zoom in on the image-. It seems…smaller... than I imagined.

The image on the monitor did not match what the scientist had expected to find. He had imagined PARIAH in two possible ways: as an older man with tubes stuck all over his body, or as a deformed body that looked nothing like a human. However, PARIAH was none of those things. The thing in the centre of the monitor looked like ... a child. A 7-9 years old boy, with white hair, but otherwise seemly normal. He wore a blue and grey containment suit, similar to what was used in asylums with difficult-to-control patients, only his seemed to be reinforced with many black belts and chains. Lying barefoot on a long operating table, and tied to it by more chains and straps, PARIAH seemed to be asleep.

-I did not know that the infected slept- Kreinorck commented.

-Oh, he's not sleeping. We believe that it is a state similar to a self-induced coma. It may not seem like it, but he is perfectly aware of his surroundings. Believe me, we know it well ...

Kreinorck continued to watch the monitor, not quite believing that he was as close to a being as he was. At first glance, it did not seem very dangerous. MOTHER, from the moment of his capture until the moment of his death, had been presenting a progressive degeneration both physical and mental that was almost palpable. With just a look, one could understand that it was a dangerous being. But that child ... almost looked like a normal child, "asleep" as he was in that place. Kreinorck noticed that, apart from the operating table, there was no more furniture in the room, and that the only decoration present in the immaculate white of its four walls were various bloodstains of different sizes and shapes that dotted its surface and that of the ground.

\- And those blood marks?

-Well, I already told you that PARIAH is a little unruly- Jules joked. -Although he is almost thirty-four years old, his body and mind are still those of a child, and as such sometimes ... he responds poorly to our research.

-…poorly?- asked Kreinorck, raising an eyebrow and glancing at his companion, who only shrugged.

-Estimulation by electroshock, exposure to gases and narcotics, extractions of blood and tissues ... the standard procedure- The scientist replied. -He seems to have developed a certain tolerance to pain, as if I had normalized it, since he no longer gets angry as much as he did before when we first approached him. However, as I have already told you, it is like a child. He gets angry, picks up tantrums, and sometimes it takes a bit to control him.

-Care to explain?

-We tried to subdue him by force, but it did not work too well. He is simply too strong for that. We tried then to, say, educate him, but we did not get the results we were waiting for. He ate the educator that we hired in the first week of therapy.

-Ugh ...

-Yes, it was not nice to see. After that, we prefer to keep the distances with him, and piss him off as little as possible. We give him toys from time to time, and sometimes we read him stories on the speaker before he does what he does instead of sleeping, but we've only gotten that far.

-And have you not thought about, I do not know, reforming it in any way? Looking for a way to him to behave differently?- At that, Dr. Jules smiled at his partner, and put his hand on his shoulder.

\- My dear Doctor Kreinorck ... I am afraid that you have become confused in regards to the role of PARIAH in this project. We do not try to "change it", nor do we try to make him join us. Honestly, we do not even care if he is happy or not. All we want is to find out how we can take advantage of his blood and abilities. Once we discover how to replicate the biological miracle that he is, it will no longer be of any use to us, and we will be able to get rid of it once and for all.

\- I understand ... - Doctor Kreinorck sighed. When he saw him, Dr. Jules squeezed his shoulder in a sign of camaraderie.

-Don't be discouraged, my good doctor. You are not the first to get attached to the little monster, and I doubt you will be the last. Just remember one thing: that thing there ... - He said pointing to the monitor. - ... it's not a human child. It is a monster, OUR monster, and the only thing that matters is to comply with the orders of the chiefs. Undestood?

Kreinorck turned away from the monitor, facing Jules, who smiled at him with wicked kindness, and extended a hand in his direction.

-Welcome on board, Dr. Kreinorck- he said. Kreinorck looked at the other scientist's outstretched hand, and then looked into his eyes. Smiling in the same way, Kreinorck raised his hand to shake it, when suddenly his hand began to tremble, transfiguring as if made by numerous black and red tentacles, and became a long claw that pierced the surprised Dr. Jules through the stomach. Raising his claw at the shocked and horrified look of everyone present, Kreinorck made Jules' body raise and sink further into his claw, while he was gasping and spitting blood in large quantities.

-Shut up and die already, asshole- Kreinorck said with another voice, a cruel and feminine voice that clashed completely with the rest of his body. Throwing the claw to the side, Jules' body was propelled against the metal plate of the wall, falling to the ground heavily. Upon seeing it, the soldiers opened fire against that being, while this one turned towards the door and sent a sharp whistle. Immediately afterwards, the four soldiers who had accompanied them began to open fire on the defenders, quickly shooting them down without caring that they were also been shot. The terrified investigators, seeing the only exit blocked, tried to get as far away as possible from their assailants, pleading for their lives and screaming for help. - What are you waiting for? Consume them all- commanded Kreinorck with her woman's voice, causing the four soldiers to smile and pounce on the helpless scientists, tearing the flesh from their bodies between cries of pain and panic. While the carnage continued through the room, Kreinorck approached with calm step to where the body of Jules had fallen. As he progressed, his body was covered by the same tentacles as before, changing its shape to a totally different one. Instead of the bald forty-year-old who had been before, now that creature had the look of an elegant woman in her thirties, dressed in camouflage pants, a loose shirt, and combat boots. His long brown hair fell uncontrollably down his back, while his cruel green eyes stabbed with macabre rejoicing at the trembling figure of the other scientist.

-What ... * cof * ... what the hell are you? -managed to articulate the dying doctor Jules, before that woman grabbed him by the neck and lifted him effortlessly into the air.

-Something superior to you- the woman answered, smiling perversely. -I really thank you for explaining all those things to me, "my dear doctor", but ... - The woman's arm, still turned into a claw, went backwards, pointing with the end of it to the face of the terrified scientist. - ... I'm afraid I need the rest of the information. - And after saying that, it went through Jules' skull. Immediately, numerous tendrils came out of the woman's body, wrapping the corpse of the scientist and entering her body, fusing her flesh while the ground beneath her feet splashed with more and more blood. When it was over, there was nothing left from Dr. Jules. Satisfied, the woman explored a little through the memories of the late scientist, learning new things about PARIAH.

A memory came from the depths of his brain, a set of thoughts, ideas and sensations that had once belonged to the eminent scientist. Fascinated, the woman plunged completely into him:

_"November 27, try .D (image of a tape recording and Jules talking to a microphone). Performing psychological tests in order to clarify the mentality of the test subject. Test 65_

_The first results extracted from the tests are inconclusive. While the subject seems to present the kind of results that can be expected in an infant (images of children playing), the tests also reveal certain unexpected patterns of behaviour. PARIAH (image of PARIAH playing with building blocks in his cell, when he was smaller) seems to present a mixture between the mentality of a child of his age (image of a smiling child) and that of a wild animal (image of a tiger showing the teeth), as the other 64 failed tests have shown (sounds of gunfire, screams and blood stains all over), possibly due to his continuous isolation and biological nature._

_Separate note: the next tests and tests will be conducted remotely to avoid the loss of more human lives (images of investigators and soldiers killed or being transported on stretchers). Personal note: judging by the observed results, I strongly recommend avoiding all contact with the subject when he is confused or angry (image of PARIAH in his cell, screaming and cracking the glass of the camera). "_

The woman left the memory, taking good note of what was learned. _"So unruly, huh?"_

-Everything ready around here- commented one of her soldiers, his uniform stained with blood. The woman saw that, indeed, her men had already finished devouring the rest of the scientists. Of the more than twenty men and women present in the room, there was only a huge puddle of blood left on the floor, on top of which were the four creatures that had hunted and devoured them.

-Well, then, let's get to it, shall we? - The woman happily proposed, pressing a red button on the desk. Little by little, the steel slabs began to ascend, revealing the crystal through which PARIAH could be seen lying innocently on his table. - ... let's have a talk with our "prince" - the woman said smiling broadly.

* * *

Kingdom of Tristain, Halkeginia, royal palace of Tristania:

\- Are you sure you have everything ready, your majesty? - Asked, not for the first time, Cardinal Mazarin, an elderly man who wore clothes of a man of faith and a tall cap resting on his silver hair. The person he was talking to, Princess Henrietta of Tristain, was a young woman with purple hair and eyes as bright as aquamarines. She hid a sigh and tried that her tiredness, her nerves, and how fed up she was that he had asked the same thing for the sixth time that morning, it did not show in her voice.

\- Yes, cardinal, I have everything I need. I'm sure it will not be necessary to review everything a fifth time-

\- Even so, one can never be too cautious. After all, having the Princess perform the Familiar Summoning Ceremony is a very important event inside the palace, and everything must go perfectly. - _"As if I needed to be reminded ..."_, she thought with boredom and weariness. The princess and him had been preparing for the ceremony for more than a week. The invocation circle, the guidelines to follow, the enchantment, the moment to cast the spell, ... Everything had been prepared in detail and reviewed a thousand and one times by all kinds of experts in the field, both to ensure the safety of the princess as her success. In spite of everything, Henrietta could not help feeling a little nervous.

The ceremony was a very important phase in the life of all Halkeginian nobles. Upon completing their most basic level of education in the arcane arts, all magicians performed a special ceremony in which they summoned a familair, a creature that supposedly complemented and reflected the interior and the value of the magician summoning it. This familiar would always live with the magician as his faithful servant and protector, helping him diligently in everything that the magician needed. Many magicians and nobles determined their future according to the familiar they summoned, as for example when a noble summon a tap or a manticore and decided to join the order of knights of the kingdom. It was considered that the value of the magician was reflected in the value of the familiar, and that was the main reason for Henrietta's nerves.

She was a princess loved by her people, she knew that well. She was truly concerned about their well-being, she fought tirelessly for their rights to be respected, and she never gave priority to nobles over commoners only because of the difference in status. Even so, she was weak. She knew it, her people knew it and, even worse, all the other countries knew it. Despite having an army of his own and numerous vassal houses that would not hesitate to run swiftly in the service of the crown, Henrietta knew that in case of war their chances of winning were not assured. She longed only for peace, but she knew too well that, often, one had to fight to get it and protect it. However, she did not seem them capable of achieving either. Inferior in number and armament, her country only possessed the advantage of magic, counting on the greatest number of wizards of Halkeginia. "The flower of Tristain", they called her. A beautiful rose without thorns which didn't had any actual utility but looking pretty. Just thinking about it riled her and filled her with frustration and anger.

It would not be enough to succeed. It would not be enough to summon just a normal familiar. If she was going to summon something, it had to be something impressive, something never seen before, something that proved once and for all that she was something more than a pretty face to accompany the crown with. She did not care if it was big, small, beautiful or scary. If it fulfilled its mission and allowed her to defend her kingdom, she did not care what it was. She could well summon a demon, and she would gladly give him her soul in exchange for his help.

... thinking about it, no demons, thank you. She did not even want to think about the scandal that would cause.

Taking a breath, Henrietta made her way through the castle courtyard, followed by Mazarin and her guards escort. The courtyard was surrounded by numerous guards and members of the firearms squadron, led by Agnes Chevalier de Milan, a young girl with golden, short hair and a perpetual expression of seriousness and determination in her face. In its centre was the huge invocation circle that the greatest magicians of the kingdom had drawn for the occasion, much larger and more complicated than normal. Through the sky flew some members of the squadron of knights, mounted on the backs of their faithful griffins, watching for any threat that might arise during the ceremony. Henrietta sighed when she saw all that deployment, which she though was unnecessary and rather exaggerated, of security forces.

-Something wrong, princess?-Agnes asked, seeing Henrietta sigh.

-Yes, my faithful Agnes, you could say that ... - she simply said, leaving a perplexed Agnes behind as she took a determined step toward the magic circle. She did not need any of that. Something simpler would have sufficed: a normal circle, a normal spell, not having all those people watching every stone in the castle. Surely everything was Mazarin's work. Normally, Henrietta did not object to the old cardinal watching over her safety, but there were times when even he went too far.

Lifting her sceptre, Henrietta prepared to begin the ceremony. At that moment, every guard present in the courtyard got silent, ready to intervene in the face of any threat to the life of the princess.

\- I, Henrietta Enriqueta Anna Estuardo, princess of Tristain, send a supplication to the sacred founder Brimir, and implore his guidance and help in this task. That my sacred family, my brilliant knight of light ... - "_For Brimir, why did I agree to cast such a long spell?"_, thought the princess to herself, while her lips continued to pronounce the long, complex and quite redundant in her opinion spell. He had rehearsed it so many times that she could say it almost without thinking, which left her enough room to worry about other things, such as what trying to guess what she was going to summon, how her people would react when they saw it and, above everything else, how her friend Louise would react when she saw it. As far as she knew, in the Academy they would perform the same ceremony in three days, and in about a week the Family Exhibition would be held, which would serve as an excuse to visit her after so many years. Henrietta could not wait to meet her childhood friend once again and catch up on everything that had happened to them in her absence. Also, they would be able to see their respective family members, and Henrietta was more than intended to leave her friend with her mouth open once she saw the impressive being she was going to call. While she was rambling, her prayer was progressively coming to an end, so the princess forced herself to refocus on what she was doing at the moment.-… and with the blessing of the five elements.- Henrietta pointed her staff at the centre of the magic circle, which shone brightly and caused the wind to blow with increasing force because of the great magic power accumulated. The moment of truth. -So, I'm ordering you, my destined familiar ... to appear!

A bright ray of light illuminated the entire courtyard, momentarily blinding everyone present.

* * *

Control center of the PARIAH project, moments before:

After pressing another button, a door on one side of the room opened silently, letting out a snort as if it had been pressurized. Smiling, the woman who had opened it went through it without hesitation. Before her, a long corridor opened that ended up in a door that connected it to PARIAH's cell. Before, however, another door stood between her and the hallway, indicating that she was in a decontamination chamber, just as the insulating suits hung on the side confirmed. She could easily tear down that door, but doing so could trigger the alarm, and they did not need to draw that kind of attention on them yet. So, the woman reluctantly put on one of the insulating suits, cautious about what kind of antiviral substances they would have in a place prepared to contain the possibly most dangerous infected on Earth. She preferred not to risk it.

After passing through the decontamination chamber, the woman began to move down the hall, impatient to meet the goal entrusted to her beloved master Mercer. After he had ordered her to search for PARIAH, she had spent many months following tenuous clues and trails, until finally she found a high-ranking military man who knew the exact location of the Crusade Project. After consuming him, it was a matter of following the trail until she found Dr. Kreinorck, who after being consumed became the perfect disguise to access the facilities of Blackwatch. So focused had they been on eliminating Mercer and Heller that they weren't able to conceive that several of Mercer's infected could escape the island to carry out the task of locating Greene's son. Finally, all those months of unsuccessful search had brought them there, one step away from completing their mission: taking PARIAH with Mercer.

However, the woman could not help but have her own plans for the little monster. After all, that child was a seemingly unlimited source of power. Imagine the possibilities, if she consumed it instead of her master! Surely, she would become something superior to Mercer, something much like a Goddess, and then she would be the absolute ruler of the world. Not Mercer, not Heller, only her. If she also consumed the four idiots who had accompanied her, no one would ever discover her betrayal until it was too late. Besides, from so far away, her master could not control her or learn anything about what happens there. The chances of her devouring him on his return to New York increased to almost 100%. She would be unstoppable!

The woman smiled, ecstatic. All her dreams and desires, within arms reach, literally waiting for her on the other side of the door. Nodding to his companions, who watched her progress from the control room, she waited for them to open the door, ignorant of the malicious intentions of the infected.

...

Silence. Absolute silence. Silence only broken by the sound of her own nervous breathing, augmented by the suit that covered her body. Removing it immediately, the woman only had eyes for one thing: PARIAH.

In the periphery of her vision, she saw the thick glass that separated her from her companions, who watched her expectantly. She was also aware of the multiple bloodstains in the room, blood that no one seemed to have taken the trouble to clean, and which pointed all the way to the centre of the room, where an operating table was located with her objective firmly attached to it, as if it were a Mayan altar. In silence, the woman began to surround the table, looking at every detail of the child's body. From the tip of his feet, to the last of his white hair, he seemed nothing more than an ordinary child, ignoring, of course, his singular pigmentation and the fact that he was tied to an operating table in the bowels of a secret base of the United States Army. Had she been human, that would have been everything the woman would have ever noticed.

But she was not a human. She was an Evolved, and that child was not normal or ordinary at all. She could ... feel it. That feeling of dominance, that instinctive terror before a stronger being ... it was like being in the presence of Alex Mercer, the Alpha, again. And he was not even awake. _"How much ... power!"_, the woman thought, swallowing. Failing to imagine how powerful she would become once she absorbed it, the woman smiled nervously and approached to the end where PARIAH's head was.

Finally, the woman came to the table. The child's body, just inches from hers. She could hear his calm breathing, and noticed that, for some reason, he had his mouth covered with an iron gag. Accessing back to Jules's memories, the woman saw that on more than one occasion, PARIAH had tried to bite those who entered the room, and that he possessed a bite that could leave a dent in iron easily.

-You're one cute, little beast, aren't you?- said the woman softly and tenderly, stroking the PARIAH's pale face with the back of her hand, feeling small discharges on her skin as it came into contact with his. Suddenly, PARIAH opened his eyes, briefly startling the woman, who was aware that those wide-eyed eyes were staring at her more intensely than anyone had ever looked at her before in their life. It was as if he was reading her mind, his two red eyes with pupils torn like those of an animal. They were hypnotic, feral eyes, unfit for such a small body. The woman had to resist the temptation to take a step back, and tried to hide her fear by smiling warmly at PARIAH.

-Sorry, little one. Did I woke you up?-PARIAH did not move, concentrated as he was on observing her with both of his red eyes. The woman returned to caress PARIAH's cheek. - My name is Julie. Julie Stowll. And I came here to meet you. -Julie pressed playfully the tip of PARIAH's nose, in an attempt to make PARIAH realx. The look of apparent astonishment on his face changed to another one of confusion for an instant, while it continued fixed in Julie. -You see, I ... - she added, approaching him with whispering air-…I'm like you. I'm not human. And, right now ... -Julie, still caressing PARIAH's cheek, put her other hand on the other side of his head, whispering calmly- ... , I want you to sleep little longer. Quiet ... quiet ... - Julie tried to sing a soft lullaby to PARIAH, making use of her sweet velvety voice while trying to make PARIAH relax. Little by little, the song and the caresses of the young woman caused PARIAH to begin to close his eyes again, until he went back into his previous state similar to that of the dream. Julie continued singing and caressing him until she made sure that PARIAH was sound asleep.

_"Jujuju, too easy ...",_ she thought to herself, looking with cruel pleasure at the unsuspecting child, and pressing her grip lightly on the head of PARIAH. _"... bye, PARIAH"._ Determined not to give him a chance to fight back, Julie made use of all her strength to, in a single gesture, break PARIAH's neck, surprising the four Evolved who watched the scene from the monitor room. Quickly, numerous tentacles came out of Julie's body, quickly digging into the inert body of PARIAH, as she prematurely savoured her impending triumph over Mercer. _"Yes, yes, with this ... I WILL BE INVINCIBLE_!" She thought exalted, opening her arms and welcoming Greene's power. A power ... that did not come. Confused, Julie looked down. What was happening? Why could she not suck it? No ... not only was she not sucking it, but she was ... she was ...

-No ... nonononono, NOOOOAAAAAGGgghh ...!-she shouted, as Julie felt how her own tentacles turned against her, pulling her body towards PARIAH, instead of the other way around. Between cries of agony, Julie felt as her body was being torn apart and absorbed inside PARIAH, as her body was decomposing little by little and as her blood fell in spurts against the ground and against PARIAH, who was still lying on the table with his neck turned in an unnatural angle. After a few moments of screaming, Julie's reamins eventually decomposed into small tendrils and bloody tentacles that merged with those of PARIAH's body, silently plunging the room again. PARIAH's neck was back in place.

-What ... what the fuck just happened? - Asked one of the Evolved, horrified by what they just witnessed.

Before any of the other three could answer, PARIAH opened his eyes again. Twisting hard, he began to move on his table, trying to free himself from the tapes that held him. His legs kicked until, finally, they managed to wriggle out of the straps that held them down, and with both feet on the table, he began to pull upwards. Shocked by what happened, one of the Evolved tried to run away, but the doors of the base were solidly closed, too thick to be able to throw them to the ground with their powers.

-The card! SEEK THE FUCKING CARD! - He exclaimed hysterically as he hurried to register like a madman on the bloodied floor for any card that would allow them to flee from there.

-Jack, calm down at once!

\- What are you doing, idiot? - Exclaimed another one of them, grabbing the elusive Evolved by the shoulder. -We have a mission to fulfil!

-FUCK THE MISSION !- he shrieked, freeing himself from his partner's grip.- Haven't you seen what he has done ?! If we do not leave now ...!

-Guys ... - Said weakly the last one, that had been left behind without knowing who to focus on: his teammates or PARIAH. Right then, with a final pull, PARIAH broke free from the tapes that kept him fixed to the operating table, claiming everyone's' attention. His arms were still tied to his body by that complex straitjacket reinforced with chains, and his metal gag had fallen to the floor with a crash, after which PARIAH opened and closed his mouth, standing on the table. Finally, Greene's son turned around, staring with his unnatural predator eyes at the frightened four evolved, without saying nothing.

The silence and tension lasted barely a minute, when suddenly PARIAH took a step towards them, causing them to instinctively gave another one backwards.

-Ooooh, fuck ... Here it comes!

-Don't worry, he can't go through the crystal. It's too thick for ... - With a jump, PARIAH launched himself against the glass, throwing a strong kick in the air that created a deep crack in it, causing the one closest to the crystal to back up. An alarm started to sound, while emergency lights began to flash and blink, alternately illuminating the laboratory with its reddish light. -SHIT! The slabs, lower the slabs! Jack, take care of the door, let no one come in. The others ... - PARIAH jumped again, throwing another kick in the exact same spot as the previous one, widening the cracks in the glass- ... with me.

Prepared for the fight, the four infected transformed their arms: two of them with blades, the one of the door with a whip, and the last with shattering arms. The infected one next to the crystal, who had claws, pressed the button that lowered the steel slabs with the elbow, but it was too late. Just as they were going down, PARIAH launched one last kick against the glass, crossing it completely and flying over the nearest infected person. Shocked, the infected watched as PARIAH landed in the middle of a cloud of crystals in the centre of the room, up on one of the laboratory work tables, before jumping back towards the infected who pressed the button. Seeing this one how PARIAh came to him, he launched a rapid upward stroke with his sharp appendages, trying to hit the helpless kid in the head. However, PAIRAH managed to stop the attack with his mouth, skilfully catching the sharp blade of the infected with his teeth. With his feet still looking up, PARIAH metamorphosed his right leg into a spear, and by bending his back in an arc, he threw his leg like the sting of a scorpion against the infected man's neck, piercing it from end to end. Twisting in the air, PARIAH finished cutting the head of his victim, who fell limp on the ground.

\- NO, JONNATHAN ! Damn you, BASTARD! - exclaimed one of the infected, the other who owned the blades, jumping on PARIAH. Meanwhile, the one with the whip launched a swift attack from below on the young man, trying to impale him through the stomach.

\- NO, IDIOTS, WAIT! -tried to say the one with the devastating fists, failing to stop his companions. Meanwhile, the doors of the laboratory were opened wide, while multiple armed soldiers bursted into the laboratory, opening fire on the infected. Covering himself of the bullets with his thick arm, the Evolved one was forced to go to intercept them, instead of supporting his companions.

Undeterred, PARIAH caught the sharp whip of the infected one with one foot, and leaning only on the other jumped up, dodging the attack of the infected blade. Quickly, PARIAH kicked with the foot that held the whip against the face of the nearest infected, nailing the partner's appendix to his eye. The pain distracted the infected enough for PARIAH to land on his two feet, and launch like a missile against his neck, holding him tightly with his sharp teeth and holding onto his shoulders and chest with his legs. Shaking him like a shark, PARIAH tore off his head and part of the neck of his second victim, quickly kicking the rest of the body against the wall. Still holding the severed head of the infected, PARIAH began to absorb it, while the Evolved of the whip watched in horror as PARIAH advanced towards him.

-Oh, fucking ... FUCK! - An explosion behind his back took him out of his state of momentary hysteria. Beside the door, his companion struggled to contain the Blackwatch troops, who had taken cover by the corridor and had decided to unleash the heavy artillery: heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, and even bazookas. It was clear that the possibility of sinking the facilities did not worry them as much as the fact that the infected could reach them.

-Jack, they're too much! - exclaimed the other infected. Although he was not weak precisely (his arms were already covered in the blood of others, specifically the jumbles of flesh and bone that now adorned the ground at his feet), the armament of those soldiers was not something to be taken lightly. Not for nothing were the guardians of PARIAH.- Let's swap! You finish the soldiers, and I will go for PARIAH!

-Are you crazy? Let's get out of here! This thing is going to ...!-Before he could say anything else, PARIAH ran straight towards him, surprising him because of his partner's distraction. Before he could do anything to prevent it, PARIAH bit him hard on the shoulder, lifting him in the air, and with a quick neck shake, he threw his body in the direction of the other Evolved. Seeing his companion come, the infected was able to duck just in time, so that the improvised viral missile flew over him, through the door and down the corridor, where the soldiers were waiting for him.

-Contact!-One of them exclaimed, opening fire on the infected named Jack before he could get to his feet.

\- Grenades! Use the special explosives! - The assault on the infected was devastating. Making use of all his firepower, the Blackwatch riddled that being without giving him the opportunity to stand up, releasing next to him a couple of strange-looking grenades that, when exploded, released a red cloud that did not allow the unfortunate to breathe while he felt his eyes and skin burning. Before succumbing, but, he managed to launch a single horizontal cut, splitting in half several of the soldiers and wounding many others in the process. Finally, the battered body of the infected fell to the ground, where he received a couple more shots and a couple of grenades to finish him for good.

-JACK!-shouted the remaining infected. Although he had the intent of running to help his partner, the threat that represented PARIAH stopped him from going any further. Seeing that he could no longer save Jack, he decided to hit the exterior control panel of the door, causing it to close. Before the soldiers could reach it, the infected man returned to the laboratory, with the door closing firmly behind him. PARIAH, strangely enough, had remained standing in place. The infected man stared into his eyes.

-Let's get this over with…freak-he said, positioning himself with his huge fists in a combat stance. PARIAH remained in the same position, the alarm lights illuminating his impassive face at intervals. With a roar of defiance, the infected charged against PARIAH, who did not make the gesture of moving away. Just as the attacker launched his devastating attack on him, PARIAH crouched down. Quickly, the infected man threw the other fist down, with the intention of crushing PARIAH against the ground. However, the young Greene managed to avoid the attack with an upward flip. At the height of the jump, just as the infected tense was about to launch his third attack, PARIAH opened his mouth unusually, up to almost four times its normal capacity as it divided its lower jaw into three while showing three circular rows of sharp teeth that momentarily frightened the infected, stopping his attack.

_"What the ...?"_ , were his last coherent thoughts, before PARIAH bit his whole head, up to his chest. The infected body twisted for a moment, while his arms struggled to free himself from his captor. However, PARIAH stopped his movements definitely when, with a final crunch, tore off his head with a single bite. Instead of swallowing it, PARIAH spit it to the side, letting it roll on the floor, while his mouth returned to its normal size.

PARIAH stared unblinkingly at the scene unfolding around him: the alarm ringing and the lights that dyed everything red, briefly disguising the blood spilled on the floor and walls, the mutilated bodies of the infected and the soldiers, the shattered tables and crushed lab material. With a calm step, PARIAH turned around, away from the door, his feet leaving small white tracks in the sea of blood they were walking through, with a slight CHAF, CHAF sound. Returning to the control panel, PARIAH jumped up onto the table, pressing the button that raised the steel slabs with his foot. After waiting patiently for them to rise, he again jumped through the hole he had previously opened, falling heavily into the pool of blood that had remained in the room, splashing his clothes lightly with the dark reddish liquid. Unperturbed about these events, PARIAH stretched again at his table, and after a little cracking of his neck, closed his eyes again.

He still was…*yawn*…a little sleepy.

So, amid the shrill sound of the alarm, and the unmistakable clamour of the boots of the approaching Blackwatch soldiers, PARIAH tried to go back to sleep, ignoring any other distraction.

Just as the lab doors reopened, a pale green orb of light enveloped PARIAH and the table, surprising the young Greene again. By the time the doors finally opened, the mysterious orb of light and PARIAH were no longer there, leaving behind only the empty operating table, and a few stunned soldiers who did not understand what the hell had happened in there.

Where the fuck was PARIAH?

* * *

Courtyard of the castle, just then:

The brightness of the magic circle began to diminish, allowing its disoriented observers to contemplate a faint silhouette that began to shape itself in the centre of that light. While Henrietta struggled to discern the look of her familiar, a strong smell suddenly assaulted her nostrils, forcing her to cover her face with her sleeve.

\- By Brimir! What is that smell? - Mazarin exclaimed, imitating the princess. Agnes, who would recognize that smell anywhere, rushed to get to the princess.

-It's the smell of blood, your Highness ... lots of it- Agnes said, pulling out her pistol and standing between whatever that silhouette was and the princess. Getting in position, Agnes realized where the smell came from: a large pool of blood had formed around the magic circle, with its origin being the centre of it. Whether that blood was from the summoned familiar or not, that was something they couldn't tell. Whatever it was, she did not like it one bit.

Suddenly, the light faded, revealing to all of them the being that the magic of the princess had called before them. It was... a child. A boy with white hair and blue-gray clothes stained red, lying on his back in the middle of a large pool of blood. Seeing him, the first instinct of the princess was to run towards that child, fearing that all that blood was his. However, Agnes prevented her from getting any closer.

-No, princess!

-Let me go! That child could be injured! - exclaimed the princess, trying to free herself from the grip of her protector, who at that moment was struggling to move her away from the circle.

Suddenly, the boy opened his eyes, and jumped to his feet, gazing wide-eyed at everything that surrounded him and surprising all the guards present, who quickly drew their weapons, not knowing who or what that child could be. He, ignoring all the weapons and wands that were in those moments pointing to him, devoted himself to observe everything with wide eyes, looking in all directions as if he did not quite believe what he was seeing. After a quick glance at everything around him, his attention was suddenly focused on the sky above his head, with his eyes so wide that they seemed to be coming out of his orbits, and an expression of a mixture of astonishment and horror in the face. Trembling, the boy bent forward, falling to his knees in the pool of blood, with his head bowed, while little by little the guards and knights began to approach him with a cautious step. Henrietta could only contemplate with astonishment and some fear as that strange child hunched and trembled, without understanding what was happening to him.

Suddenly, the boy raised his head, throwing an unnatural scream into the air, a roar of terror so powerful that everyone felt it like an explosion of air, so strong that the windows of the castle trembled, and more than one was shattered by its intensity, the echo crossing the walls of the castle and attracting the attention of all citizens, who wondered surprised what creature could scream so loudly. The guards who did not manage to cover their ears in time felt as if their eardrums burst, and more than one fell unconscious to the ground, with blood coming out of their ears. Henrietta tried covering her ears to reduce the damage of that monstrous scream, but it was still too loud. That voice ... was deffenetily not human. It was like the cry of an animal, a scream as she had never heard before, a powerful scream that seemed to have no end.

The cry of her new familiar.

By Brimir ... what answered her summoning?

* * *

**And, just like that, the first chapter has been fully translated.**

**Just a quick warning: as many of you can notice, English isn't my native language. I used Google Translator to do a quick translation of the fic, then revising it to correct any mistakes or parts that didn't make sense, but there still could be grammar mistakes or misunderstandings, so try to have that in mind if you want to review the chapter.**

**I hope you all enjoy it, and see you at the next chapter.**

**Chao Chao**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Meeting

Until then, Henrietta could not complain about how her day was going so far.

She had gotten, tidied and dressed up, enjoyed her breakfast and attended her private lessons as usual. Once she finished, she had to deal with a couple of matters and treaties that, in theory, the queen regent had to approve. But since her mother was unable to lead the nation at the moment, this task had ended up falling on her daughter, the princess. Up to this point, Henrietta had no complaint. It was tedious, yes, and very tiring, but at least she was already used to this routine.

Then, before the meal, the moment came when Henrietta would perform the invocation ceremony, for which she herself had been reviewing each point to avoid mistakes. It was probably there, she supposed, when the day began to twist.

What happened to make it go wrong? Well... Maybe it had to do with (just maybe) the fact that she had summoned a strange boy stained with blood and tied with what appeared to be a mixture of leather bands and chains, stretched out in a pool of blood, who then hit such a scream that had destroyed more than half of the panes of the palace, along with some eardrums.

Yes. On second thought, that was exactly the moment when the day begun to twist slightly.

After roaring for what seemed like minutes, when in fact it had been only ten seconds, the mysterious boy started to run, moving swiftly through the courtyard towards the guards. Seeing him charge against them, many were those who casted spells and fired their weapons at him, but his inhuman speed made him a difficult target, and none succeeded in hitting him. One of the knights tried to cut the boy down, sword in hand, but in one leap he avoided it, landing with both feet on the chest of another knight several meters away, and used it to slide on the ground until he came down. Zigzagging among the knights, the mysterious boy dedicated himself to giving strong kicks to those who could not get away in time, sending them flying through the air and against the ground with tremendous violence. Several of Henrietta's men managed to avoid the advance of the young boy by means of their spells, invoking great tornadoes and flames that forced him to retreat several times. On one occasion, a particularly strong knight tried to split him in two with his huge axe, which the boy managed to catch with his teeth. Before the amazed gaze of everyone, the boy finished closing his mouth, splitting the edge of the axe into a thousand pieces, and sending the enormous body of the knight flying through the air with a kick in the stomach.

"What the hell is that thing!?"

"Protected the princess!"

"Over there! It's over there!"

The chaos in the courtyard was increasing, as that little boy ran everywhere he could without a clear destination, knocking down as many knights who tried to stop him. Henrietta, still protected by Agnes, could not detach the eyes of that child. What ... what was he? How could he do those things? Despite going barefoot, his feet crushed the rock where he stepped with ease. Her knights could barely keep up with him, and even the strongest of her men were no match for his abnormal power. Had she exceeded herself by asking for a "powerful familiar"?

Little by little, the knights of Tristain began to regain control of the situation. Using an improvised strategy to push him back as they surrounded him, the knights finally managed to lock the young runner at the centre of the courtyard, pointing him from everywhere with his wands and weapons, while he tried to find a crack, growling like a wild animal to whoever tried to approach him. Henrietta noticed that, in spite of his human aspect, his eyes were ... like those of an animal: completely red, and with pupils torn like those of a feline, without iris.

"Now we have it, do not let it escape!" Exclaimed Wardes, the captain of the Griffon Knights, while receiving medical assistance from one of his subordinates. That kid had managed to sneak away from his thrust and, jabbing his teeth hard on his shoulder, had shaken him like a doll before throwing him as if he weighed nothing against other knights, bleeding profusely from his arm.

"Do not move!" shouted one of the knights, not knowing if the kid was understanding him or not. Instead of responding, the boy continued to watch them all with a threatening gesture, before looking at the ground with great interest.

Glancing up while looking determined, he half bent down, raising the immediate suspicions of all the knights. What was doing? Did he mean to jump over all of them? If that was his plan, he would become a perfect target for the members of the Order of Musketeers, who had already adopted positions with their characteristics muskets along the walls, looking for a direct shot at him if necessary. Whatever it was that was planning, it would not work. He was trapped.

The boy jumped, as expected, but unlike the surprising jumps he had already demonstrated that day, he barely exceeded a meter in height, being the lowest they had seen him do since he had appeared. However, what Wardes did notice was that, unlike the others, in this jump there was something else: the boy had raised his right knee a lot, almost as if...

Then, Wardes understood that he was trying to do.

"Everyone, GET BACK!" he exclaimed, too late. Falling hard, the boy stomped his right foot, burying it completely in the hard stone of the courtyard and generating a tremor that shook every stone of the courtyard, unbalancing everyone and throwing to the ground several knights. To make things worse, numerous black and red thorns began to sprout, like grotesque wolf fangs, from his location, advancing rapidly toward the stunned ranks of soldiers. Just when the wave of fangs was going to reach the closest knights, who luckily for them had quickly undertaken the retreat, the place where they had previously been exploded, as a result of the appearance of larger spines that sent flying through the air. Henrietta watched with increasing fear the destruction that was happening in front of her. That child, or whatever he was... he was incredible. He was facing alone a large number of his knights, and not only had he not received any damage from them, but on top of that, he seemed to be wrecking them without any effort at all. And those spines ... How had he done that? Was he really not human?

Taking advantage of the fact that the perimeter had been broken, the boy withdrew his spines and took his foot out of the hole. With great strides, he went at full speed against the doors of the palace, guarded by a good number of armed knights. When they saw him approaching, they prepared their spears and set out in formation with their shields facing forward, ready to face that thing at all costs.

Surprisingly, the boy did not tried to reach the door. Instead, he changed his course, heading without slowing down against the palace wall. Several knights and guards watched it, believing that the boy had gone mad. Did he pretend to break through the wall with his body? The walls of the palace were especially thick, so it was impossible that he succeeded...

When he reached it, instead of crashing against the wall, the boy started running for it, ascending as if it was on normal ground by the vertical surface of the building, cracking the rock where his feet passed. Stunned, the knights and numerous witnesses could only contemplate with amazement as that child continued its uninterrupted ascent through the castle, until having reached the highest point of the tower overlooking the courtyard, the sound of a window breaking indicated to everyone present that that being had gotten into the palace.

"Griffin and manticore riders, keep an eye on the tower and make sure he doesn't get out!" commanded Agnes, quickly organizing her troops to take care of the many wounded and to go in search of whatever that was. "Musketeers and all remaining forces, with me! Let's go find that thing. You two, stay with the princess". After that, she headed to the inside of the castle, followed closely by many knights and musketeers.

"Princess, are you all right?" asked the cardinal, alarmed and visibly upset by what happened. "Quick, we must take you to a safe place!" he said, giving the order for more soldiers to come guard the princess. She, however, refused to move.

"I'm not going anywhere," she said determinedly, challenging with her gaze to anyone who dared to contradict her statement. "That… child my knights are persecuting is my familiar, and I refuse to just run and hide while this situation is not resolved".

"But… princess! Please, be reasonable! We do not know what that is, and it is clear that it is not a normal human being. Might be better if…"

"I said I will not leave, and I intend to comply, cardinal," Henrietta said firmly, turning in the direction of the castle, as she clutched her skirt firmly so it would not disturb her as she walked. "I will see this solved myself. You are free to follow me if you believe that that's what you should do". And after her proclamation, the princess went with determined step where Agnes and the rest of the knights had gone, while a couple of bewildered soldiers rushed to follow her.

_"Sometimes I wish she wasn't always so noble"_ Mazarin thought, watching the princess go. _"It would be much easier to protect her if she were a bit more cowardly and selfish, like the rest of the nobles of the court." _Moving as fast as his old bones permitted him, the venerable cardinal hastened to reach the princess.

Yes, sometimes having such a magnificent princess could be a real headache.

* * *

Top of the north tower, moments later:

Finally, Henrietta reached the top of the tower, after raffling and having to repeatedly order her knights to let her pass and try not to stop her. After climbing the last step, Henrietta found herself facing a tense situation.

The staircase gave way to a short corridor, composed by a wide wooden floor, stone walls with small windows through which the whole city could be seen, and a moderately high ceiling consisted of several wooden beams. At the other end of the corridor, a solid wooden door gave way to one of the many disused rooms in the castle, a door that at that time no longer seemed so solid, considering it was currently lying on the floor after seemingly being torn from the wall. Faithful knights and musketeers huddled on either side of the doorway, led by Captain Agnes who, being closest to the door, tried to peek inside discreetly, pistol in hand. Next to the stairs that Henrietta had climbed were two of her knights, sitting on the floor while receiving medical attention from a healer.

With a cautious but decided step, Henrietta approached Agnes, imitating her knights and trying not to face the dark hole in the adjoining room. Seeing her approaching, Agnes came quickly to her, while she trying not to raise her voice too much.

"Your majesty! Please, go back. This place is too dangerous for you!" She half-exclaimed, half-whispered, trying to prevent Henrietta from coming closer to the door.

"Is he in there?" Henrietta asked without raising her voice, apparently ignoring the captain's petition. Before she could respond, a roar similar to the previous ones, although this time shorter and less intense, came out of the room, followed by the body of a knight, who flew through the room and crashed hard against the wall from the other end. Quickly, two other knights approached him to check his condition.

"Yes, it's in there," Agnes said, looking with rage and impotence at her wounded knight and the dark shadows inside the room. "That thing is cautious. It has entrenched itself inside, and since we do not fit all through at the same time, we can only go individually or in small groups. In addition, it is hidden in the shadows and we cannot follow its movements. Even I have not been able to see it move ... "Agnes confessed, and then Henrietta noticed that the captain did not look so well, seeing that she was leaning her right hand on her side, where her steel armour seemed to have suffered a deep dent. "Unless we use smoke to make it come out, I do not see how ..."

"I'm going in," the princess informed her, surprising Agnes and all the knights present, who quickly tried to dissuade her from committing such recklessness. However, the princess just silenced them with a wave of her hand. "I understand your concern, but this is something that I must solve myself. I was the one who summoned him here, and therefore I must be the one who takes care of this."

"But your majesty, that's ...!"

"Do not worry, my faithful Agnes" said Henrietta, resting a hand on the knight's shoulder and smiling warmly. "I promise you I'll be fine. If I see that the situation becomes too dangerous, or if I think I will not succeed, I'll get out of there as fast as I can." Henrietta stood in front of the room, facing it with a feigned air of confidence and decision. The dark depths of the room, from which came the threatening growl of the monster that was waiting for her inside, seemed to return the stare.

"But do you have a plan, or ...?

"Don't worry, my brave knight" Henrietta repeated with a determined smile whose objective was to mask the nerves that were gripping her inside. "I do have a plan, and what is more important ..." Henrietta put her hand in the little bag that hung around her waist. "... I have this." The idea had occurred her halfway, causing that she stopped on her way to go find that particular bag from her room.

"Even so, I insist that you at least carry this," Agnes said, holding out her faithful firearm. Without being entirely sure, Henrietta accepted the knight's weapon, and cautiously stepped into the darkness, while her faithful knights watched helplessly from the door, each of them silently praying to Brimir for the safety of his princess. If something happened to her, they would never forgive themselves.

Henrietta walked in a straight line, going through the cold shadows and the motes of suspended dust that inhabited the room, until suddenly she saw that in front of her there was a small clear of light, light that came from the only small window in the room, located near the roof. Standing in the middle, she tried to see if she could see or notice the presence of her familiar, but could only hear the echo of his growl and his creepy hiss, like that of a furious feline or some kind of snake. Looking back, she saw that her knights followed her every move from the door, about five meters from where she was standing. The shadows hid the presence of the walls and the high ceiling, higher than that of the corridor through which she had arrived, and only the creak of the wood and the clouds of dust descending alerted her of the advances of her familiar. Slightly frightened, Henrietta breathed deeply, and exhaled unhurriedly, counting mentally to calm the accelerated throb of her agitated heart. Deliberately, Henrietta raised her hand with the gun, causing the grunt to take strength, and without hesitation, she let it fall, the sound of wood and metal hitting the ground with an echo that seemed to sentence the fate of the young woman. Seeing her throw her weapon, Agnes tried to run towards the princess, only to be stopped by the arms and grabs of three other knights, who were trying to explain her that doing so could put the princess in greater danger. Ignoring the bustle of the entrance, Henrietta grabbed the bag from her waist, fumbling inside. The object she drew caused both the knights and Agnes to be mute in surprise. Was that... what they thought it was?

Giving it a bite, the princess confirmed their suspicions. A cookie. The princess was eating a cookie. She had thrown away her gun, in the presence of an unknown and potentially dangerous creature, and had started eating biscuits. The absurdity of the situation was borderline lunacy. What the hell was the princess thinking? Did she wanted to die? Just when several of her knights prepared to imitate Agnes and try to enter in order to drag the princess out by force if necessary, she gave them a discreet signal to keep them still. Trying to control their impulses to disobey, the knights stayed at their post, watching with increasing nervousness as the princess quietly finished her cookie, humming to herself a cheerful little song while she wiped the crumbs from her face. It was only at that moment that the knights noticed something. The growls hadn't stopped, but… Now it sounded like a purr, kind of like a cat, only several times more serious and beastly. From time to time, they could hear the sound of someone sniffing loudly from different parts of the room, closer and closer to where the princess was.

Henrietta felt the presence of her familiar behind her, and without looking back she knew that he was looking over her shoulder to see what she was eating, sniffing curiously next to her ear. Quickly, Henrietta turned around, hoping to see that, naturally, that gesture caused the little creature to retreat to the shadows. Despite the tense situation, Henrietta could not hide her smile. In a way, he was like a curious puppy. Maybe he would like to play.

"Do you want one?" she asked to anybody in particular, taking out another cookie and lifting it over her head. "Come on, don't be shy. They are very tasty" she assured him, speaking in a sweet and calming tone. Something passed swiftly over her head, and Henrietta found that she was missing most of the cookie, torn off without having almost realized when he had bitten it. The sound of the crackle of the cookie being chewed and the unmistakable sound of someone swallowing told Henrietta that she had managed to get the attention of that little beast. Smiling, Henrietta threw the rest of the cookie into the shadows of the ceiling, without it falling back down. Instead, only cracking and crunching came again, proof that the creature had caught it in the air.

Pulling out another one, Henrietta picked it up again, trying to discern where the "attack" would go this time. A crack at her back caught her attention, causing her to turn around quickly, only to feel a tug in her fingers when the cookie was snatched. Turning again, the princess managed to glimpse the shape of a strange tentacle full of thorns that, with the cookie pierced at its tip, went back into the shadows. "Oh, you little rascal…" muttered Henrietta, fairly amused. At least, he hadn't hurt her. Progress. Again, Henrietta heard the sound of the cookie falling apart, and saw how a few crumbs fell in front of her from the ceiling, telling her where the little thief was.

And, sure enough, there he was, hanging from one of the beams held only with one foot, as if he was a bat. The creature licked his lips, and fixed the two points of red light that were his eyes on those of the princess, who just held his gaze and took out another cookie. Apparently perplexed, the creature jumped up onto the beam, and disappeared again in the shadows, the echo of his footsteps and growls sweeping the entire room.

"Well, well… Looks like someone else likes these cookies apart from me "commented Henrietta with a jovial voice. "You see, it turns out that instead of being sweet like the other cookies, these are salty, so few people prefer them. But… I think they are a particularly delicious appetizer, a…whim, if you know what I mean. From what I see, you probably think the same, right?" A tentacle suddenly came out of the shadows, its sharp end ending in a bright pincer that stood out in contrast to the blackness of the long appendage, covered in red veins. Henrietta, making use of reflexes that even she did not know she had, managed to keep him from snatching the cookie. "Ah, ah, aaaah ~ ... Not so fast" she crooned, wagging her finger playfully saying no. "If you want this cookie, you're going to have to come out where I can see you." The creature ceased its grunt, remaining mysteriously still, while Henrietta looked sideways trying to locate him. "Understood… If you do not want it, I guess I'll have to eat it… "She commented, making the gesture of taking the cookie to her mouth. In response, the creature let out a wail of surprise, and then a roar of anger that surprised the knights, but that only managed to make Henrietta smile, covering her ears. He may not be entirely human, but it was pretty clear that he was very much like a child. Only a brat could throw a tantrum for such a small thing.

"If you want it, then come out."

A deep mix of purring and grunting above her caught Henrietta's attention. There, right above her head, was the creature, hanging again vertically from one of the beams, as it slowly descended to the ground, his two bright red eyes fixed on her. His right leg, with which he had grabbed the beam, stretched like jelly, showing strange black fibres throbbing more than those bright red veins. Henrietta backed away, leaving room for the creature to reach the ground, without either of them ceasing to observe the other closely. When his shoulder touched the ground, the creature let go of the beam, quickly folding its leg and spinning nimbly on the ground, standing up without difficulty.

Now that the strange boy was in the light in front of her, Henrietta could notice several more details that she had not seen before. To begin with, he saw that the boy's body was quite small, his head barely reaching under her chest. His eyes, which in the courtyard were completely red and with the pupil widely torn, had changed to a more human aspect, leaving aside that the iris were red and that the pupils were still torn like that of a feline. His peculiar attire was stained with what was obviously blood, and quite recent judging by his appearance. His arms were bound to his body by several binds and chains, and as Henrietta noticed before, he was barefoot. How he could have kicked her knights and smashed the ground with his bare feet without suffering any kind of injury was something that escaped her understanding. One more mystery to solve. Judging by his half-crouched posture, his fierce look, and the snarl that escaped from his half-open mouth, riddled with sharp teeth, Henrietta felt that the strange young man did not trust her yet. Smiling warmly, Henrietta bent down and handed him a cookie, which caused the young boy to jump back.

"Do not be afraid. I will not hurt you" she assured him in a calm and friendly voice, keeping still while waiting for the boy to take the first step. Little by little, the young infant approached him, looking suspiciously and alternately at Henrietta and at the cookie she held. When he was close enough, the kid threw himself headfirst into the cookie, snatching it on one bite and backing up several steps, eating it with his back to the princess like a crouching animal.

While the child was busy with the cookie, Henrietta took the opportunity to approach him little by little, trying not to make any sudden movements or too much noise. Her plan ... well, it had worked somehow. That was good. The bad thing was that her plan only went until there. From that point on, she would have to improvise and adapt.

When she was about to reach the boy, he suddenly turned around, looking totally alert to Henrietta and growling menacingly. Seeing that, instead of retreating, Henrietta raised both hands and showed him her palms, in a gesture that she hoped the child would understand as her not wanting to hurt him. Taking another cookie out of the bag, Henrietta broke it in two, eating one half and holding out the other to the child. Seeing it, he stopped grunting, changing his gesture of rage to one of surprise and desire. Turning towards Henrietta, the little boy approached the princess, with all his attention focused on the appetizer she was holding.

This way, Henrietta finally managed to meet her elusive familiar, both sitting quietly on the floor of the room sharing some cookies. Although at first he had been rather distrustful of the princess, he had ended up relaxing thanks to the cookies, devouring one after another eagerly. Henrietta, on the other hand, smiled when she saw that she had managed to calm the previously upset kid. Up close, ... he was not that scary. Aside from his curious hair colour, pale skin and bloodstained clothes, he almost looked like a normal human child, enjoying the cookies that Henrietta was giving him like they were the most delicious meal he had ever tasted. Without realizing it, Henrietta's free hand ended up resting on the young boy's head and began to caress his white hair, which felt like the finest of silks. The boy, who was at that moment nibbling a cookie, looked surprised at first and tensed, contemplating surprised as she stroked his head while smiling. His expression of confusion denoted that this child was not very used to people caressing him, looking her suspicious for a few seconds, until finally he relaxed and continued eating cookies while allowing the princess to caress his head. Henrietta noticed, amused, that the boy had begun to purr like a kitten, although she had to admit that it was a somewhat sinister purr. It sounded like the cavernous growl of some dark creature, which was quite out of place considering the childish aspect of its creator. Henrietta decided to ignore it, and passed him another cookie when she saw how the previous one was swallowed.

...

Five minutes later, the knights at the doorway saw their uninjured princess approach them, smiling calmly despite having confronted alone a monstrous child ... WHO WAS JUST BEHIND HER! At once, all the knights seized their swords, pistols and wands, while the boy tensed and seemingly prepared to attack.

"Everyone, stop!" Henrietta ordered her knights, then turning to the boy and energetically raising his forefinger in front of him. "No! Behave yourself, or there won't be any more cookies!" Obviously horrified at the idea of a future without more cookies, the boy looked at Henrietta and the rest of the audience, confused and hesitant, until finally he looked at Henrietta resignedly and nodded slightly. More relaxed, Henrietta smiled again, putting a reassuring hand on his back and accompanying him to the stairs, before the attentive and rather impressed look of her knights, who could not believe what their princess had just achieved. It was as if she had managed to tame that violent creature with just a handful of sweets, easily accomplishing what any of her knights and musketeers could do together. Just when the couple were about to reach the stairs, the boy quickly hid behind the princess, who looked at him with a perplexed and confused gaze. At that moment, a wheezing Mazarin reached the top of the stairs, followed by a group of guards.

"Princess… Henrietta!" He exclaimed when he saw her, between gasps and trying to catch his breath. "I feel ... I am sorry for the delay ... I am very glad to see thaAAAAAHH!" The cardinal shouted alarmed, as he saw that behind the princess the same being who had shocked the whole palace in such a short time was timidly peeking at him as if he was a normal child. Stepping back as far as he could, the cardinal pointed at him in fright, gasping for coherent words despite the impression, while the boy hid his head behind Henrietta, clinging to her body as if he did not want to be seen.

"THAT ... THAT ... THAT ... THING! IT'S BEHIND YOU, PRINCESS! G-guards, arrest him ...!" He ordered the guards who were following him, who were not particularly happy to have to approach that child, having seen the result of their previous attempt to capture him. However, Henrietta was not going to allow the boy to be pursued any longer. Putting him in front of her, she hugged him protectively from behind, earning a look of surprise and confusion coming from the child, and many others on behalf of Mazarin and the guards.

"You will not do such thing, cardinal! This child is not dangerous, not for me and not for anyone else."

"B-but Princess, haven't you seen how ferociously he attacked the knights at the courtyard?! It is more than obvious that this…_thing_ is not a normal child!"

"Maybe, but where you see a monster I only see a small child who is scared and confused, and I will not allow him to be chased like an animal without giving him the opportunity to prove that he is not a threat to us." Once she had spoken her mind, Henrietta took the boy down the stairs, leaving behind a rather perplexed group of knights, guards and her counsellor.

...

"Are you confortable?" Henrietta asked the boy, sitting facing each other on the princess's bed, in her private chambers.

Henrietta had taken him there after coming down from the tower, having been briefly pursued by Mazarin and the rest of the guard, and having agreed to the terms of what Henrietta had called "a formal mandatory presentation between master and familiar in order to avoid more misunderstandings and chaos". Mazarin had insisted that the meeting should be carried out in the dungeon, with the child locked in a cell and fastened with chains to the wall, while the princess could talk to him through a small window. The princess, horrified, had insisted on talking to him alone in her bedroom, without anyone bothering them. After having discussed it for a long time, they had come to an agreeable resolution: Henrietta and the child would talk in the princess's bedroom, but they would be kept apart for most of it and there would be several knights present to ensure her safety at all times. So, Henrietta had allowed Mazarin to choose a small group of guards, since both Wardes and Agnes were in the infirmary at the moment, being attended by healers. Placed on both sides of the doors and windows, the armed protectors kept an eye on the child, while the old cardinal sat in a chair next to them, contemplating uneasily the meeting between the princess and her... familiar.

He, from the moment he had seen the bed, had not stopped moving around. After patting it briefly with his foot, he had jumped on top of it with cries of amazement and laughter, bouncing happily as if he had never seen a bed before. Henrietta had let him play for a few minutes, smiling at seeing him enjoy something as simple as the softness of her bed, though she could not help but wonder how such a small body could make the bed creak so much with each jump. After playing to his heart's content, calmed once again, the boy had stretched upside down, sinking his face into the soft mattress.

Coughing a little, Henrietta caught the attention of her familiar, who still stretched turned his face to be able to face her, with the same gesture of curiosity that had presented all the way to her bedroom.

"All right, before we start, I need to ask you something" Henrietta started to say. Pointing to herself, she continued. "Can you understand me?" The boy nodded. "Good. And you, can you talk?" she asked, pointing to him. Sitting up cross-legged, the boy nodded again. "Wonderful! My name is Henrietta Enriqueta Ana Estuardo de Tristain, although you can just call me Henrietta. Can you tell me your name?"

For a moment, the boy looked at the ceiling thoughtfully. His name? His name ... That was a tricky question, considering he had no real name. Nobody had ever bothered to give one on him. The closest thing he had to a name was his code name, PARIAH, so that would have to do.

"PA ... PARIAH ... "he managed to say, with a childish voice that was sounded somehow raspy and insecure. In his thirty-four years of life, he had barely said a couple of sentences in total, due to Blackwatch researchers never been willing to teach him to speak. Armed only with the memories and experiences of previous victims who he had consumed in the past, PARIAH had learned to do so, among other things.

"Pariah… That's a really fancy name!" said Henrietta happily, visibly rejoiced that she had managed to summon a familiar who could speak, even if it was one as strange as that child. "It is a very pretty name. I'm very pleased to meet you, Pariah."

"I've never heard of a familiar who could speak" commented Mazarin curiously. Hearing him speak, PARIAH turned to the cardinal, looking at him suspiciously and growling slightly at the old man. The cardinal, startled, shrugged slightly in fear, retreating as far as he could within the limits of his chair.

"Of course he speaks, cardinal. He is a child after all. Why shouldn't he be able to? "Henrietta answered, not that happy about the cardinal interrupting her conversation.

"And that's the weirdest thing of all, princess. When has it occurred, that a magician summons a human being? The only creatures that are usually invoked in these cases are animals, spirits or ..." he said, glancing sideways at PARIAH. Understanding quickly what the cardinal was insinuating, Henrietta hastened to come out in defense of her familiar.

"He is not a monster, cardinal, nor is he a demon!" She replied, quite scandalized, to which PARIAH simply nodded.

"Yes."

"Yes? Yes, what? "Henrietta asked, frowning a little.

"Yes, I'm a monster" he clarified. Upon hearing it, Mazarin's suspicions grew, while Henrietta approached him slightly and looked worriedly.

"No… No, child, you are not a monster ... Who ... said that you were?"

"The Blackwatch scientists."

"The ...what?" Mazarin asked, confused.

"The ones who had me locked up" PARIAH spoke as if such a thing, an imprisoned child, was something quite mundane. Henrietta, on the other hand, began seriously worry about the child.

"They… locked you up? Where, why?" the princess asked, determined to bring to justice those who would dare to do that to an innocent child.

"Does it have to do with what you are?" Mazarin asked, earning a disapproving look from Henrietta, who saw the truth behind that question. PARIAH simply nodded.

Henrietta sighed.

"Ok, let's ... Let's ... let's start from the beginning" said Henrietta, getting closer to PARIAH, who had turned around and was contemplating the ceiling while waving his feet in the air. "Let's see, where do you come from? Do you know that? "PARIAH shook his head. "I see ... And family? Do you have family?" PARIAH shook his head once again. "What? Neither mom, nor dad ...?" PARIAH, again, answered _no_ for the third time. Henrietta was running out of ideas. In a way, she was feeling rather uncomfortable about the way they were interrogating the little one. "Ehmmm ... How old are you?"

"Your majesty, with due respect, I think there are more important issues that should be accounted as soon as possible, instead of these trivial questions" said Mazarin.

"Wanting to know more about him is not _trivial_, my dear cardinal. At the very least, its mere courtesy, and in fact, I do really want to know more about him."

"Well then, ask him what he is, which I think it's the most important thing to know right now."

"One thing at a time. Right now, he is scared, confused, and I do not want to press him into talking about certain things without reason" Henrietta answered, contemplating how PARIAH continued tossing and turning in her bed, apparently oblivious to the conversation between the two of them. "It's obvious that he has a complicated past. Let's go step by step... Pariah, how old are you?"

PARIAH seemed to meditate on that question. He had never really thought about it. How many years had he been locked up? All he recalls is the cell he lived on till that day, and the experiments. Quickly delving into the memories extracted from the scientists and Evolved he had absorbed, PARIAH found the number he was looking for (or, at least, the closest thing he had to an answer).

"Thirty-four" he answered decisively, glad to be able to answer one of the questions of that beautiful girl. The way she treated him was different from how everyone else had been treating him in all his life. There was no pain, no cold indifference, not even a false kindness, like the strange woman who came one day and pretended to "educate" him, until he finally ate her. It was ... nice, or so he though. He had trouble defining what "nice" was exactly, never having felt it before.

Henrietta and Mazarin squared at the child's response. Thirty-four? How the hell was that boy thirty-four years old? That would mean he was almost twice as old as Henrietta, and just over half the age of the cardinal.

"Ha ... hahaha ... ha, so… thirty-four, huh?" Henrietta laughed awkwardly at what she thought had been a little lie from the child, or maybe a mistake of his own. It was a joke that she was not going to believe, that this child could be older than she could. For Brimir's sake, she tamed him with cookies! "Well, that is… That means you're much older than me, since I'm only seventeen."

While Henrietta tried to take that as a joke, Mazarin could not help but suspect that the child's words may be more literal than the princess could imagine. His abilities, his behaviour, ... Everything in him indicated that he was not, in the slightest, human. If only he could make the princess understand, then he would be able to adopt the appropriate security measures!

"Well, I'm sure you are now wondering where you are, and how you got here, right?" Henrietta asked, and PARIAH stared at her with his usual blank expression, although listening attentively to each of her words. "To begin with, you are in the royal palace of the kingdom of Tristania, located in its capital, Tristain, on the continent of Halkeginia. What country are you from?" PARIAH shrugged. "You do not know? Hmm..." That might be a problem. Henrietta was pondering about how she will get the answers she was looking for, when suddenly something occurred to her. "Hey, how about we remove those straps first? You might find yourself more comfortable without those. Eh, what do you say?" PARIAH, very excited all of the sudden, nodded several times vigorously, putting a smile on Henrietta's face at seeing him so happy. Mazarin, of course, had to intervene.

"Princess, please, I must ask you to reconsider! Having seen what he is capable of with only his legs and teeth, I do not even want to imagine how dangerous he would become if, on top of that, we released his arms!"

"And what do you expect me to do, then? Shall I left him tied up the rest of his life? Treat him like a slave, or as an animal which must be chained even before understanding why he did what he did? Is that what you are suggesting to me, Cardinal Mazarin?" exclaimed the princess, rather angrily, forcing the bewildered cardinal to shrink back into his chair. Determined, Henrietta seized her sceptre, and before anyone could even think of stopping her, freed PARIAH from his restrains with a quick enchantment. Once the chains fall to the ground, PARIAH began to release himself on his own with by stretching his remaining strains, battling against them. While he was on that, Henrietta could not help but notice that, despite the obvious wear and tear on the leather over the years, it did not seem that anyone had loosened those straps in a long, long time. The princess clenched her teeth, imagining enraged the severe punishment that she would apply to anyone who let this happen to a child, even if it was one as strange as him.

Finally, the last bind fall from her familiar's body, and PARIAH released his arms. Once he was free, PARIAH looked with amazed eyes his own hands, as pale as the rest of his skin. Flexing his hands and arms with a flexibility that Henrietta could not help but contemplate slightly impressed, PARIAH stretched the numb muscles in ways only possible for expert contortionists, causing his bones to pop several times. While Henrietta contemplated the obvious relief on the young boy's face, Mazarin did nothing but keep an eye on him with renewed suspicion, trying to assess the degree of danger that PARIAH now represented.

"All right, let's continue ... The reason you are here, Pariah, is because I have summoned you to become my familiar. Do you know what that is?" PARIAH shook his head. "A familiar is a creature that we magicians summon with our magic so that they become our companions for life. The summoned familiar is usually the creature that, supposedly, best matches the wizard, which ... " she explained, examining the young boy up and down, remembering all the problems he had caused since his arrival, while PARIAH stared undaunted at her, only slightly tilting his head as if he was wondering why she had such an odd look on her eyes while looking at him. "…I do not know what exactly that means on my behalf, but let's not waste any more time in such frugal details. What I'm trying to say is ... "Henrietta took PARIAH's hands. He watched as his little hands were wrapped around the soft hands of the princess, and looked at her with renewed astonishment. Nobody had ever held his hands before. "…would you like to be my familiar? Since you're just a child, even though you claim to be thirty-four years old, " she said with a smile "and are so powerful, I will not force you if that's not what you want, nor force you to go back to that horrible place you've managed to escape if you answer me no."

PARIAH meditated on it for a few seconds. Judging by Henrietta's tone, she seemed to be telling the truth. However, her eyes reflected something else. It seemed like she was kind of... desperate, and scared, but not because of him. Maybe ... maybe she really need his help. And she had been very nice to him so far, unconsciously pulling him out of that bad place and treating him like no one had done before, even if she somehow was a little wary of him. PARIAH did not fully understand what he was supposed to do, but decided not worry too much it either. Once he made his mind, PARIAH looked at Henrietta and nodded.

"I'll do it" The princess, after hearing that, smiled with eyes shining with joy.

"Se…seriously? You will? That's wonderful! Thank you, thank you, thank you! "She exclaimed, hugging PARIAH sudden and tightly. PARIAH, finding him surrounded by the arms of the young woman, tensed almost instantaneously, believing that to be some sort of an attack. However, noticing that not only it did not hurt, but that it was quite pleasant, the infected young man began to relax, enjoying that new sensation quietly.

Once released from the hug, PARIAH found himself staring directly at Henrietta's shining eyes, which almost gleam with joy and pure happiness.

"All right then, let's begin the sealing ceremony. This may hurt a bit, so try to remain still, okay?" Seeing PARIAH nod, Henrietta began to intone the spell, the last part of the ritual. "Holy founder, you who keep the key to the power of the five elements, bless this creature and make him my familiar..." After saying these words, Henrietta kissed PARIAH's forehead, leaving him completely stunned after receiving the first kiss of his life, so warm and soft that he could not even believe it. As soon as the princess's lips left his skin, a sensation of quite disturbing heat erupted from the inside of his right hand, and a strange mark appeared on his palm. As engraved with fire, there was a strange symbol on his previously spotless palm, similar to a complex circle of runes with a rose on its centre and a crown on top of it, shining with great intensity. After a few seconds, his hand returned to normal, leaving behind the mysterious drawing. "Ok, then that's it. You're already officially my familiar, Pariah" Henrietta declared, running her finger over the mark on PARIAH's hand. He stood looking with great interest at the drawing, observing it from all angles.

Taking advantage at seeing that PARIAH was distracted, Mazarin took the opportunity to approach the princess.

"Your majesty… A word, if you please."

"You may."

"Are you sure about this? I mean, we have no idea what he is, other than that he is several times stronger than a normal human being, and that someone locked him up and held him up for it. Also, you need to think about what the people and the court may think once they see him. They might believe that you have enslaved a child, among other things."

"You think that I didn't gave this a thought, that I acted on impulse? I might not know what the rest of the world will think of this, cardinal, but what I do know is that I performed the summoning ritual and Pariah answered my call. What I do know, is that he has the kind of strength I was looking for in a familiar, the kind of strength I need at this moment. And what I do know above anything else is that, although he might not be a normal child, I refuse to get rid of him just because we don't completely understand him at the moment. I refuse to abandon a poor child who has nowhere else to go or anyone to take care of him, no matter what the court nor you may say." Henrietta spoke decisively, contemplating sideways as Pariah still seemed fascinated with the mark that had appeared in his skin, sniffing it with feral curiosity and even giving it a couple of test licks. Mazarin, who remained unconvinced, simply sighed with resignation.

"Understood, your majesty."

Henrietta seemed contented enough. It was expected that the cardinal would remain unconvinced, but at least it seem that he will listen to her and let her do as she though. That will have to do.

Looking at Henrietta, PARIAH reclaimed her attention and pointed to the mark that had come out of his hand.

"Mark?" He asked, studying Henrietta's hand.

"What? Oh, you mean... No, I do not have a mark. The mark only appears on the familiar, not in the summoner" Henrietta explained. Frowning for a bit, PARIAH seemed to be doing some thinking, when suddenly something occurred to him. Taking Henrietta's left hand, under the watchful eye of every guard present and the princess's confused look, PARIAH took a bite on the back of her hand, tearing a short cry of pain from her. Watching as the princess was seemingly attacked by her familiar, the knights quickly drew their swords, with the intention of pouncing on the being who had dared to attack their princess. She, however, made them stop with a silent gesture, obviously containing the desire to scream in pain and with slightly watery eyes.

After a few more seconds, PARIAH released her, revealing that his fanged teethes had left a bloody bite mark on the side of the princess's palm, with small trickles of blood still flowing from it. To everyone's surprise, the holes in the princess's flesh closed quickly, leaving only pale round scars arranged in a circle that ran along both her palm and the back of her hand. The pain dissipated after that, leaving behind only the faint traces of her blood, which quickly dried up.

"Mark" PARIAH said again, raising his hand as if he wanted to show Henrietta his rune. At first, Henrietta looked at him not understanding what he meant. "Mark!"

Warily, the princess also raised her marked hand, and little by little, joined it with her familiar's, their palms of different sizes pressed against each other. Then, PARIAH smiled widely, obviously pleased with the final result.

"Now, we both have a mark" he declared, his face the living image of happiness and innocence. Henrietta relaxed a little, understanding what he did and delighted to see her little familiar so happy, smiling broadly as only a child could. Nobody would have distinguished him from a normal child, seeing as he was at the moment. She knew that there still were a lot of mysteries and questions regarding her strange familiar, but… they could wait until another day.

A tremendous and sudden grunt echoed throughout the room, alerting Mazarin, Henrietta, and the knights, who believed that the princess's little familiar was about to attack them. However, that sound had not come from his throat, but from his stomach, in which PARIAH rested one of his hands, again with his usual neutral expression and some discomfort.

"That is… Well, I think it's time we eat something. Don't you agree, cardinal?" Henrietta asked, emerging from the stupor into which she had fallen when she heard such a strange and reverberating sound coming from the stomach of such a small child.

"Yes, that... that might be the best" the cardinal commented, somewhat stunned too.

"What do you say? Want to go get something to eat?" asked the princess, getting off bed and holding out her marked hand. Nodding innocently, PARIAH jumped of bed too, taking the princess's hand with his own, and both left the room to the dining room. The guards wasted no time in following them, still wary, but keeping their distance for the moment.

Mazarin saw them leave, still pondering about everything that he had witnessed. Albeit his previous words, he still though that this… "Pariah" was a dangerous creature that needed to be dealt with. The summoning ritual was a sacred ceremony blessed by the founder himself, but even then, Mazarin refused to think of Pariah as nothing else but a ticking bomb, ready to explode and catch the princes in its path. That creature was a mystery, it was dangerous, and unfortunately the princess refused to attend to reasons.

Thus, the task of protecting her from that strange being, while trying to determine whenever it was a real threat or not, should fall on his shoulders. "_So be it…"_ he thought with grim determination. If he deemed it necessary, Mazarin would not hesitate to eliminate that being, no matter how much it may look like child… or what the princess though about him.

May the holy founder forgive him for what he needed to do.

* * *

**Chapter 2 completed. **

**As I already said, I work mainly with Google Translate, then reviewing and correcting and re-writing what needs to be reviewed, corrected and re-written. Even then, some errors may have managed to elude me, so any kind of review and/or correction will be appreciated.**

**Also, I've changed the way dialogues are shown, as stated by one of you. I don't know if this was what was meant, but at least I've tried. If not, feel free to tell me. **

**Chao, chao.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Power

That same day, later:

Once again, Henrietta was surprised by her little familiar's abilities. She had never seen anyone eat that much or that fast before.

Henrietta and PARIAH had gone down to the great dining room of the palace, where the cooks had already taken care of having her food ready, along with many other similar dishes for her newly invoked familiar. Sitting elegantly at the table, Henrietta clasped her hands to thank Brimir for the food received, when suddenly PARIAH began without a warning. Under the surprised gaze of the princess and her escort, the little boy began to grab large handfuls of food and shove them in his mouth, emptying the dishes quicker than the cooks could fill them. Despite their speed, Henrietta could see that many dishes weren't actually touched by his hands. Instead, it was as if some kind of tentacles came out of his body and caught the food, dissolving it before retreating. A couple of minutes later, PARIAH let out a satisfied sigh, having devoured the equivalent of a banquet for several dozen people, with Henrietta so surprised that she did not realize that she had not even started eating herself, too absorbed as she was seeing him eat.

_"I will have to teach him some manners, or the receptions from now on are going to be truly a headache ...",_ thought the princess, resigned, taking a small bite of her food. And what was more important, how much would it cost her to feed that child every day? Having seen the amount he could eat, he was quite capable of emptying the palace pantry in a week or less!

After the meal, Henrietta had to attend more of her tedious lessons, with PARIAH as a silent spectator. That day, her instructor had decided that they would practice dancing in the palace hall, a large room where banquets, dances and parties for the nobility had been held on numerous occasions. At that time, the room was almost empty. The marble floors were being polished by several servants, while many others rushed to clean the intricate ornaments of the walls, or to remove the remains of wax from the large lamps that hung from the ceiling and from the crystal chandeliers. At the centre of the room, Henrietta struggled to follow her teacher's instructions, circling elegantly while pretending to dance with someone. On one side of the room, sitting silently in a chair, stood PARIAH, watching them from a distance.

"One, two, three ... One, two, three ... Longer steps, your majesty. Remember that you have all the dance floor for you" said the instructor, a man in his thirties who dressed in elegant modesty, and who wore a large ponytail of dark hair and something too similar to carmine lipstick on his lips. Under his watchful gaze, each one of the princess steps was meticulously reviewed, correcting every mistake calmly, but firmly. "... turn a little more ... Very well, keep it up ... One, two, three ... One, two, three ..."

Henrietta, while continuing her practice (and trying not to laugh at his instructor's peculiar way of speaking, more similar to that of a woman than a man), could not help looking sideways at PARIAH, who contemplated with childish amazement the great rooms of the palace, and with even greater interest her lessons. "_Poor thing, he must be bored ...",_ thought Henrietta with a smile, determined to play with him as soon as she had the chance. For now, she would focus on what she was doing. After all, her dance lessons were one of the few things she actually enjoyed practicing.

As she practiced, PARIAH watched dutifully the princess's elegant turns. It seemed very funny, and not that complicated at all. Making use of his kin senses and his excellent vision, PARIAH was aware of every gesture and movement the princess made. The length of her steps, the angle of rotation, the pace at which she moved, ... His eyes could even capture small details such as the movement of her muscles, or the brightness of her gaze every time the princess turned to where he was.

Unconsciously, PARIAH descended from his chair, imitating the princess's posture. Remembering how he had seen her move, PARIAH began to dance as well, imitating each and every one of the movements he had seen the princess do over and over again. Despite not having an actual partner, PARIAH managed to recreate each of the complicated turns and steps of that dance, quickly drawing the attention of some of the servants. Sideways, Henrietta watched her little familiar dance along with her, contemplating amused and curious as he seemed to dance quite skilfully with his imaginary companion. Of course, the dance instructor also noticed the actions of PARIAH.

"No, nononono ..." he said, quickly approaching PARIAH, who had stopped in the middle of a turn to see the bizarre professor approach. "You have style, kid, but your dance is littered with mistakes! Also, that part corresponds to the lady's. The gentlemen dance like this ... "

And having said that, the instructor set out to do a dance demonstration, hoping to impress the little princess's companion and show her how one should dance at court. However, instead of just looking at how he danced, the instructor noticed that that little boy with strange eyes had begun to imitate each and every one of his movements perfectly, dancing next to him as if he was some kind of reflection in a strange mirror. Did he seriously believe that he could do the same dance as him so easily?

_"Hmpf, don't think the art of dancing is so simple, child ... Let's see if you can do ... THIS!" _thought the instructor, annoyed and determined not to be ridiculed so easily.

Suddenly, the instructor began another dance, changing to a more complicated and technical style, full of complicated pirouettes, multiple turns, and convoluted positions of arms, legs and even fingers. Despite his training and his years of experience, the instructor soon began to feel his forehead beaded with sweat, but still smiled satisfied.

"_Ha, how did you like that? Maybe now you'll understand that dance is not something you can master so- WHAT !? "._

Surprised, the instructor discovered that the young man from before had not only kept up with him, copying each of his movements with pinpoint accuracy while not looking away from him for a moment, but on top of that he seemed neither tired nor agitated . Every turn, every posture, every jump ... It was like looking in a strange mirror. His movements were there, clearly, but his body was totally different. The ease with which that child seemed to perform the feats that took him so many years of rigorous training to master was ... insulting. Although, he had to admit, it was also inspiring. With a little practice, that young prodigy could become the envy of all the ballrooms in the country. If he became his apprentice ...

Henrietta, on the other hand, was fascinated contemplating the singular duel that seemed to be having her dance instructor and her little familiar. As it seemed, the instructor struggled to get PARIAH wrong, performing dance steps so perfect and complicated that Henrietta knew at first glance that she would never master them. And yet, PARIAH seemed to imitate him perfectly without any struggle, always watching him with the attention of a hunting hawk. Henrietta could not help but smile when she saw how her strict teacher seemed to find his most worthy opponent in that young boy, while both performed their impromptu dance show for the enjoyment and enjoyment of the princess and how many servants were there, too absorbed with that singular show how to keep cleaning.

Finally, the instructor seemed to admit his defeat, and finished his dance with a complicated and elegant posture which, obviously, PARIAH imitated perfectly, except his face, that he continued as impassive as at the beginning, with his two eyes still fixed on the defeated professor. Henrietta and the servants applauded the ability of both dancers, while the former crestfallen teacher seemed to focus his attention suddenly on PARIAH, approaching him with leaps and bounds. Grabbing him by his shoulders, he stared into his eyes, causing no change in PARIAH's expression.

"Young man, become my apprentice" he said firmly, while Henrietta looked worriedly at that and hurried to get to them. "Do it, and together we will be the greatest… huh?" Without a warning, PARIAH grabbed the surprised professor by his shirt, and effortlessly threw him up, suddenly turning him into a frightened human projectile that screamed in a very high pitched voice. Luckily, his body crashed into the crystal chandelier, where he got tangled up while shouting to be helped and brought down from there at once with a strident voice.

"Pariah! Why did you do that?" Henrietta asked, alarmed, while she and PARIAH watched the frightened professor struggle to get free.

"He was weird ... and too close" said PARIAH, slightly frowning, as if the frightened professor's shouts bothered him.

While the servants arrived with a long staircase, Henrietta could not help looking at her familiar somewhat worried and sighed. It seemed she still had a lot to work with him ...

...

And so, Henrietta and PARIAH began to live as familiar and mistress in the castle. Despite the princess's protests, Mazarin had insisted that it was not convenient for her to spend all of her spare time with that strange being, arguing that he was not safe and insisting that PARIAH should remain guarded at all times. In addition, Agnes, who had recently left the infirmary where her wounds had been treated, supported the cardinal's idea, so that Henrietta had to give in. PARIAH was locked in one of the most luxurious rooms in the palace, where he had a large bed to rest on, enough food for several days, and a thick escort guarding his door day and night. However, despite all these security measures, no one could prevent PARIAH from exploring the palace at ease.

On the first day of "captivity," PARIAH discovered a small hole in the wall the size of a mouse. Using his powers, he modified his body to decompose it into a tangle of fibres and tentacles that allowed him to crawl like a snake through the hole, which ran inside the walls of the room until he reached the continuous room. From there, it was a matter of hanging from the ceiling and moving from there, taking advantage that nobody ever looked at the ceiling without necessity. Occasionally, PARIAH was forced to hide, using his powers to briefly blend in with the environment, changing the pigmentation of his body to mimic the colour and pattern of the walls. Using these two techniques, PARIAH could move freely through the palace without anyone ever finding him.

As soon as he got bored of exploring the palace halls, PARIAH always went, without exception, to where Henrietta was, who always smiled when she saw that his young familiar had managed to escape once again, no matter how much Mazarin increased security with each attempt. Although the princess scolded him a little at the request of the cardinal, once he didn't look, she always thanked him for making all that effort to meet her and brighten her day, rewarding him with some caress or some other kind of prize, like giving order to his knights to cease the search and allow him to observe life in the palace with tranquillity. Sometimes, PARIAH watched Henrietta work, either writing reports, taking lessons, or chatting with some important nobleman or merchant, always trying to stay out of sight in the latter cases. The first time Henrietta saw PARIAH camouflage against a wall, she couldn't give credit to what her eyes saw. On other occasions, Henrietta took him to see how things worked in the palace, explaining the task of each servant they found, showing how Agnes trained her musketeers (PARIAH seemed to have enjoyed that specifically, judging by how childishly attentive and excited he seemed while watching the battle formations of the knights, and imitating the movements and attacks of Agnes), or simply chatting with him animatedly, trusting him with her worries and concerns as if he was her confidant. For his part, PARIAH simply listened to every word of the princess with great interest, making few or no comments at all.

From time to time, the princess managed to get some information from PARIAH about himself, using questions and the occasional cookie-based bribe. This way, Henrietta learned many things, such as that PARIAH seemed to come from a small town called Hope, and that he had never met his father. Someone separated him from his mother when he was born, and had never seen her again (strangely, PARIAH had commented that he believed her mother had died, but was not entirely sure. Nor did he seem very affected by it). The same men who had separated them were those who had locked him up from the moment of his birth, conducting all kinds of experiments on him. While PARIAH commented on the horrible experiments and torture they practiced on him as it was nothing, Henrietta could not help being horrified when she imagined her little familiar suffering such frightful torments, pitying the strange child and assuring him that she would not allow anyone to hurt him again. She also discovered that, curiously, Pariah did not like to go outdoors. The first time she had tried to take him out into the courtyard, he had backed away and hid so well that Henrietta had to mobilize the entire palace until she found him. With patience and some effort, Henrietta tried to treat his fear of open spaces, taking him by the hand and helping him to go outside outdoors little by little. Finally, Pariah overcame his initial fear of not being covered by a roof, although he remained uneasy anyway. So many decades locked in a room had made him suspicious of the open sky.

So, the first days went like this, with Henrietta turning restless in her bed every night while she thought of her little Pariah, her mind full of questions about his life. Where did he come from? Where was his mother? Was she like him? What was that about the Redlight or Blacklight that Pariah mentioned so much? At some point, Henrietta tended to smile as she remembered how shy Pariah seemed to behave when he was facing someone unknown for the first time, always hiding behind Henrietta or camouflaging himself on the ceiling, while grunting like a puppy to the newcomer in a rather tender way in Henrietta's opinion (and only from Henrietta. The others found him either weird, or rather disturbing), or she also frowned when she remembered the strange abilities his familiar sometimes demonstrated, as his tendency to find her wherever she was easily, his strangers movements that allowed him to stick to the walls and walk on the ceiling like a spider, or his tendency to be aggressive with some people, as if his first instinct was always to attack or bite. Although, having heard about his past, Henrietta could not help but understanding the little familiar. He could not be blamed for anything, considering that all the people he had known so far were enemies and evil people, and that he had practically spent his entire life locked away from the world and all its inhabitants.

"_I will change that_," she thought determinedly, "_I will make Pariah happy and behave like a normal child_, _as it's the last thing I'll ever do_". With thoughts like that, she quickly falls asleep.

* * *

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the palace, Mazarin was writing a report with a tired, resigned look on his face. Once again, he had failed.

Without the princess knowing it, obviously, he had tried by all means to get rid of the little threat that the princess seemed to have taken so much care for. He had tried to poison his food, but the monster seemed unmoved even when using the deadliest poisons they could get. They had tried to attack him at night, sending murderers to his room under the cover of darkness, but they were never seen again. Just a couple of bloodstains that the servants had to clean the next morning, and nothing else. He had even tried to attack him with traps such as throwing heavy weights on him when he passed by and other "accidents", but it seemed that the strange being with the appearance of a child was more resistant than he seemed, since most of the traps broke against his body like they were made of paper. Mazarin had only one more thing left to try ...

The sound of someone knocking at the door suddenly caught his attention. The person he had called had arrived.

"Come in," he said, putting aside his last report of the night.

The person who had opened the door was Agnes, who as usual wore her musketeer armour, while she squared respectfully and closed the door behind her.

"Did you want to see me, Cardinal Mazarin?"

"Indeed. Please, come in". Agnes approached the desk, entering the light of the candles that the cardinal had personally lit. Putting his hands together on the table, the cardinal started to speak. "I imagine that you have noticed the unusual activities of the ... _familiar_ of the princess."

"Yes. Just today, he and the princess have gone to witness my musketeers' morning training"

"And I guess you are also aware of ..."

"… Of your assassination attempts?" she asked questioningly. "Yes, I am aware. If it wasn't because I know it's improbable, I'd say you're trying to betray the princess, cardinal."

"I would never do such a thing!" He replied, indignited. "All I have ever done is to protect her from any kind of danger, such as that strange creature she has taken as her familiar. She just doesn't understand how dangerous that monster truly is! Sir Wardes, for example, remains bedridden after being bitten by it.

"Yes, I have heard something. According to the healers, sir Wardes had suffered horrific outbreaks of fever, and his injured arm had begun to undergo quite strange changes, such as swelling and the appearance of huge pustules on its surface."

And all that, for a simple bite of the creature. Bite that the princess had also received in her hand, from what she had heard from her knights. So far, the princess seemed fine, but ...

"Well, it doesn't matter. There's nothing we can do at the moment. Our top priority is that, despite my many attempts, we are no closer to getting rid of him than we were at the beginning. The poisons have failed, the murderers have failed, the traps have failed ... We only have two options left: either the princess sees sense and gets rid of that being, or ..." Mazarin looked implicitly at Agnes, then directed his gaze to the gun located on her belt. The knight understood the meaning of that look without Mazarin having to say anything else.

"…understood. I'll take care of him personally" she said, determined. Mazarin nodded, content yet reluctant.

"Are you aware that the princess will surely not approve? She could even severely punish you for this."

"I'm fully aware of the risks, but something tells me that the princess is in danger as long as she stays next to that thing. So if giving my life is the price to pay in order to protect her, I will gladly pay that price ..." Agnes turned and left the room, deep in thought as she walked through the halls of the palace. Mazarin didn't say anything as he saw her leave.

She needed to prepare herself. Soon, she would face and kill a monster.

* * *

The next morning:

"Are you serious?" Henrietta asked Agnes, sitting at the table with her breakfast in front of her. While she was eating, her knight had approached her and had requested the presence of her familiar at the training ground, both to watch and participate at the knight's morning training. The proposal had surprised the princess, both by how sudden and how peculiar it was.

"Absolutely, your highness. Just yesterday, we all could see that your familiar seemed quite interested in our training, and I think it would be an excellent opportunity to test his physical abilities." Henrietta meditated about it, while Agnes took the opportunity to look sideways at her target, who seemed too focused on devouring his profuse breakfast to pay attention to either of them. Seen up close, it seemed almost human. Despite knowing her role well, that didn't make her task any easier. She had to kill him, put an end to that child-like being. One part of her told her that that was wrong, while another part yelled at her not to be fooled. As human as it seemed, it wasn't.

"Okay, I approve. But be careful so no one is in danger, captain of Milan "said Henrietta, drawing the attention of Agnes, who hastened to bow to the princess. Henrietta turned to PARIAH. "Have you heard? You will be able to see the training up close. Isn't that great?"

Clearly, he was happy. With his feline eyes shining with pure emotion and with his mouth full of food, PARIAH waved his arms like an excited little bird, just like a child who had just learned the best news. Agnes gave one last look to the excited familiar, and to the smiling princess who was watching him. She knew this was going to break her heart, but there was no other choice.

"_I hope one day I can forgive myself for this ..."_ Agnes thought, leaving the smiling couple behind.

...

At the moment, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Agnes had taken PARIAH to the training yard, quickly gaining the looks of surprise and suspicion of the other knights and musketeers, until Agnes explained the situation. Little by little, they got to their usual routine, while PARIAH was content to look everything from the side, occasionally looking at the sky with suspicious eyes. Henrietta, who had insisted on being present despite the cardinal's protests, watch them all from her seat. Aware that Pariah's presence might disturb her knights, she had thought that, perhaps, her presence would somehow balance the situation, while inspiring her faithful warriors to give their best. Although it had worked to a certain point, Agnes couldn't help but feeling somewhat uneasy about it. If possible, she would have preferred not to have to do what she needed to do in front of the princess, but there was no turning back. She would carry her hatred, if necessary.

The training continued as usual, with the occasional stop to test to PARIAH, as Agnes had said. While this was nothing more than an excuse to know specifically what she would face, Agnes could not help but be curious about the abilities of that young boy, having already shown that at least he had more physical power than an ordinary human.

Agnes subjected PARIAH to various tests of strength, speed and endurance, such as running him against the other knights in a race, making him lift heavy weights, or jump from extremely high places. Without exception, PARIAH left everyone speechless. He completed the track in a tenth of what it took the others, lifted weights so large that it would have taken a crane to lift, and jumped from a third floor to the ground without receiving the smallest of injuries. She even made him punch a brick wall, only to watch his fist go through it completely.

Agnes knew PARIAH was strong, but… she did not expect to such a degree. This being was extraordinary, too powerful to bring it down in a face-to-face. Luckily for her, she had an advantage: the element of surprise. PARIAH did not suspect her, and that only breach in his defense would be his downfall. While watching Henrietta caress her familiar's head and praise him for a job well done, Agnes gave one last look of doubt to PARIAH. His face was, as always, hard to read. He rarely showed any expression, beyond a slight wrinkle of his eyebrows, the occasional gleam in his eyes when he was excited, and a few smiles reserved for Henrietta when she caressed him. In those moments, although he didn't smile, one could see that he was liking it from the slight blush of his cheeks, clearly visible on his pale face. Seen that way, he didn't seem like a threat. He looked more like a shy child, trying hard not to show that he liked when the princess pated his head. But it wasn't, the knight once again told herself. It was something else, something strange and dangerous whose first instinct once it appeared had been to attack everyone, using an excessive force for such a small body. It climbed the walls, became invisible, and there were even servants who claimed to have seen it hunting birds from the window, trapping them with its tongue like a toad and then devouring them whole. The princess was in danger by its side. It might not be an immediate danger, but it was a danger nonetheless. And her job was to destroy what could endanger her highness.

Determined once again, Agnes headed to the centre of the courtyard, where the knights had cleared a circular combat arena. After throwing her cloak at one of her musketeers, Agnes drew her sword, pointing it at PARIAH.

"Now, without further delay, I request a spar with her highness' familiar, in order to demonstrate his abilities once more!" she said, drawing the attention of a confused PARIAH, and a startled and worried Henrietta.

"A spar?" she asked, looking at her captain's sword. "And wouldn't be a wooden sword better for a spar match?"

"With all due respect, your highness, having seen what your familiar can do, I don't think that a practice sword could hold more than a few seconds against him. In addition, it is a simple practice match. The point of this exercise isn't draw any blood. You have nothing to worry about" told her knight, lying while keeping a straight face, and trying to show a confident smile despite her nerves. Henrietta, somehow still insecure, looked at PARIAH to see what he thought about it. He just shrugged slightly, and went to meet Agnes. One of the other knights handed him a sword, identical to that of Agnes, which PARIAH simply dragged along the ground to the centre of the arena.

Face to face, Agnes and PARIAH prepared for combat, she adopting a perfect fencing posture, and keeping herself standing in place, with her sword held to one side of the body. Her opponent didn't seem to know how to fight with a sword, considering he had plenty of opening in his posture. As tempting as ending quickly might be, she knew that it was best not to be overconfident, and not go for the deadly blow at first. For now, she would test it, and then look for the perfect chance. PARIAH, meanwhile, entertained himself a little by examining his sword, curiously observing its sharp point and how long it was, almost as he was tall.

"Begin!" Exclaimed one of the knights, who would arbitrate the match.

Upon hearing the signal, Agnes stood her ground to see what would PARIAH do, but he merely stood still too, his weapon resting in his hand as if he couldn't even lift it. Seeing that her opponent wasn't going to be the one to start the match, she threw herself headlong into PARIAH, throwing a quick thrust into the young man's chest. At the last moment, PARIAH seemed to react, suddenly waving the sword in front of him and deflecting the thrust of the musketeer, which had to use all her strength to prevent her sword from flying from her hand. "_Such strength!"_ she thought, clenching her teeth. "_If that hits me once ..."_ Her line of thinking was interrupted when she saw that PARIAH seemed ready to fight back, raising his sword above his head with one hand. Agnes raised her guard by pure instinct, but when she saw the young man's arm lower, she changed her mind and chose to roll to the side. Her decision was correct, since the area where she had previously been found was destroyed in an instant, as a result of the tremendous coup of PARIAH. Quickly, Agnes stood up, and resumed a fighting stance. Meanwhile, PARIAH examined his now bent sword impassively, having not resisted the crash against the ground. Undeterred for a moment, PARIAH threw it aside, then faced the captain once again.

Suddenly, PARIAH's shoulders seemed to tremble, as a tangle of tentacles and tendrils began to spread from them to his hands. When the tentacles disappeared, Agnes found that, somehow, his opponent had managed to become even more dangerous than before. PARIAH's arms ... had changed. They had grown longer and changed colour and shape, as if their muscles had deformed and covered with spines and red veins. His hands had stretched, while each of his now four fingers was finished in a long silver claw that looked very sharp. Opening his arms with the flexed claws, PARIAH crouched slightly, allowing Agnes to sense that the monstrous family was about to jump on her. And he did, since just one jump was all it took PARIAH to cover the distance that separated them, his two claws ready to split her in two upon landing. Without giving him the chance to do it, Agnes quickly jumped back, dodging PARIAH's attack, while looking for ways to counter that. She would never have imagined that this thing could turn his arms into monstrous claws just like that. That was a skill that no other Halkeginian creature possessed. Even the elusive Slimes, despite having amazing polymorphic abilities, could not create appendices as solid and real as those. It was not simply appearance. Those claws, somehow, were made of actual metal.

Agnes began to retreat, as PARIAH advanced throwing left and right blows. The musketeer did everything she could to catch up with the speed and force of PARIAH's blows, but doing so prevented her from attacking, too focused on avoiding a lethal strike. Her sword could barely match the ferocity of the familiar's rush, which forced her to use all her strength just to not lose it, forcing the knight to dodge or roll. At one point, but, PARIAH managed to catch Agnes off guard. Taking advantage of the fact that the knight was in full somersault, PARIAH jumped over her, turning his body in the air and landing at her back. Before Agnes could turn around, she was knocked down by the familiar, who quickly threw a claw towards her neck.

Too fast to cover.

Too dazed to try to get up.

Agnes could only see how that huge claw fell on her ... and stopped a few inches from her neck. What…?

Henrietta let out a sigh of relief once she saw PARIAH stopping his attack just in time. Despite having discussed it with him before, she was worried that he had decided to ignore her plea.

The day before, during a conversation they had, Henrietta discovered that PARIAH had killed people in the past, whether by accident, fear, or moved by fury. On occasion, the victims were members of the same group that had kept him locked up all his life, although before being summoned PARIAH told her that he had also killed and ... "consumed" several beings of his same species, the first ones he saw in person, who they apparently answer to a man named Alex Mercer. Too scared to ask him what he meant by "consumed" (it sounded too much like he had eaten them), Henrietta had made him promise that he wouldn't kill anyone unless there was no other option, or without having a good reason for that. She would have liked to be able to make him promise that he would not kill any more, period, but even she understood that sometimes there was no choice but to take a life, so she tried to make sure that PARIAH wouldn't become a heartless murderer at least. If he had to kill, it had to be for a compelling reason, or to save himself. PARIAH, despite not understanding what the princess actually meant, accepted nonetheless. After all, what she was telling him to do was not to kill anything that didn't try to kill him before, right? He could do that.

Agnes, recovering from the impression of having been so close to dying, saw how PARIAH removed himself from her, and returned to adopt a fighting stance a few meters away from her, eager to continue the test. Agnes, meanwhile, leaned on her sword to stand up.

"Captain de Milan, can you continue?" Asked the referee of the match. Agnes simply nodded, focusing all her attention on PARIAH as she resumed a fighting stance. "In that case, continue!"

This time, Agnes let PARIAH throw the first blow, focusing more on defending herself while waiting for an opportunity to fight back. PARIAH, seeing that his opponent was not going to approach him, decided to take the initiative, rushing towards her with his claw ready to strike. Throwing a horizontal cut, PARIAH missed it when Agnes leapt swiftly up, kicking him hard in the face in the process. Stunned by the sudden kick, PARIAH stopped his rush, allowing Agnes to get into action.

"_Now_!" she thought, taking the chance to pull off her gun. Before PARIAH, Henrietta or the other knights realized what was happening, Agnes pointed the gun at the young boy's head, who stared at the gun barrel, merely an inch from his face. "_Forgive me, your highness ..."_ were her last thoughts, before she decided to pull the trigger.

BUM!

The echo of the shot travelled through the whole courtyard, surprising the knights attending the confrontation and Henrietta, who opened her eyes wide once she saw how the bullet pierced her familiar's head, entering through an eye and exiting as a blood splash from behind. Her face went from surprise to horror as she saw Agnes, throwing her gun, striking with a quick slash against PARIAH's neck, cutting it halfway.

Before PARIAH's body could fall to the ground, Henrietta was already on her feet, running towards him. No one else seemed to be able to react to what they just saw, unable to decide if they should apprehend Agnes or not. Running to where they were, too horrified to say anything, Henrietta felt as if time slowed down, with Agnes turning on herself and finally nailing her weapon into PARIAH's chest, whose body had not yet fallen because of how fast the attack was, right where his heart should be. The knights, seeing the princess run, turned away to let her pass, allowing her to see how her familiar fall to the ground in a puddle of his own blood, while Agnes fell to one knee on the floor, gasping from the effort. Henrietta couldn't believe what her eyes saw, her hands covering her mouth to hide her grimace of horror and desolation. With tears in her eyes, she stared helplessly at the corpse of her familiar, and then with increasing fury at her knight, who by then had turned and bowed still on her knees, her weapons long forgotten.

"... What ... what have you done ...?" said Henrietta, her voice no louder than a whisper. "... What have you done !?"

"I'm so sorry, your highness, but it was necessary! That being was too dangerous to allow him to stay— " Henrietta reached down to grab Agnes by her shoulders, forcing her to sit up and look her in the eye. Agnes didn't remember ever seeing the princess that way. Her eyes seemed to dig into hers like daggers, hot with rage while thick tears of pure sorrow pour down her face.

"HE WAS NOT A THREAT! He was… just a child…! " she said, her anger turning to sadness as she shook the stunned knight. "He just…just ..." Henrietta released Agnes, staying crestfallen before her, while Agnes stared wide-eyed at the distressed princess she had made suffer so much. For Brimir ... what had she done?

Her senses shot up. Murderous instinct. Behind her.

Quickly, Agnes pushed Henrietta away from her and stepped aside, just in time to prevent a huge metal blade from splitting her in half. The impact to the ground was so strong that the entire field trembled slightly, while Agnes jumped away from the impact zone. When she saw who had attacked her, she couldn't believe her eyes.

Right there, was the familiar who she had supposedly just killed. His blood still fell from the wounds she had inflicted on him, with the hole on his head so fresh that light could be seen passing through it from the other side, his head twisted and hanging from his almost severed neck, and the musketeer's sword still stuck firmly on his chest. With a hand transformed into a long two-headed metal blade similar to a huge and malformed axe, PARIAH removed Agnes' sword with the other, throwing it aside as if was just a splinter. Before Agnes' increasingly astonished gaze, and Henrietta's terrified gaze, PARIAH began to heal his wounds, as his body created tentacles that quickly covered them, making them disappear in an instant. The holes on his chest and head regenerated in an instant, while his head returned to its original position when the little tendrils put the two halves together once again. Making it creak a couple of times as if testing it, PARIAH was back to normal. To normal, with two little exceptions.

His face was no longer impassive, but it showed that he was quite upset, and his eyes were completely red, only his torn pupils serving as a contrast against them.

Turning on himself, PARIAH went back to attack, launching a spinning attack on Agnes, who dodged it by crouching just in time. The blade had passed so close from her that she had almost felt a pair of hairs being cut off. The familiar threw himself against the knight again, trying to reach her with his "weapon" or to catch her with his other hand, but Agnes managed to resist for the time being. Several of the knights present tried to help Agnes, but without exception, they were sent to fly by PARIAH, who simply got rid of them with a sweep of his hand.

"_What ... what's going on? How could he survive? How…? _" Thought Agnes, when suddenly PARIAH managed to reach her. Using his speed, PARIAH managed to grab Agnes by her neck, pinning her to the ground with him on top. Raising his arm, PARIAH metamorphosed it into a claw again, pointing it directly to his opponent's face, who struggled to free herself from the tight grip of the familiar. He really had a lot of strength, because despite the difference in sizes, Agnes couldn't get loose.

"Pariah, stop it! Stop at once!" Said Henrietta, trying to stop her familiar. However, it was as if the princess's words couldn't reach him, too focused as he was in ending Agnes. And considering the tight grip on her neck, he wouldn't have to wait much longer. Her head felt as if it was going to explode any time soon, her eyes fixed on the cold gaze of the familiar, who threw his arm with the intention of piercing her head. Making a final effort, Agnes managed to reach her dagger, sheathed at her waist, and used it against PARIAH's face, piercing an eye with it. Although it did not get him to release her, it did serve to make him miss the blow, since instead of piercing her face, he only caused a small scratch on her cheek. With a sudden twist, PARIAH forced her to release the dagger, holding her arm on the ground with his foot and removing the weapon from his eye, which regenerated in just a couple of seconds. Again, the young familiar raised his arm to finish off the knight, who had run out of options.

Agnes resigned herself to her destiny, without fear or the intention of crying. "_Princess ... forgive me ...",_ she thought, closing her eyes as PARIAH's claw descended swiftly on her direction.

SLAP!

A second passed. Two. Three. She felt now blow on her head. She heard something, yes, but clearly it wasn't the sound of the kid's hand nailing her head to the ground, because she was still alive. Opening her eyes, Agnes wanted to see how it was possible, and what she saw surprised her even more than anything she had seen so far.

The princess ... had slapped her familiar. With tears falling from her eyes, and with a hurt expression, the princess had hit her familiar hard in the face. Despite his superior strength, PARIAH seemed shocked by what had happened, looking with his now normal eyes at the princess, quite surprised. No one said anything, too surprised after seeing their peaceful princess hit someone. It really was something they had never expected to see.

PARIAH put a hand on his face, touching the beaten area with a confused look, while he standing up and releasing the surprised musketeer. Suddenly, Henrietta burst into tears, throwing herself at her familiar's neck and surrounding him with her arms in a tight hug, which baffled PARIAH. He felt the tremor of the princess's body, and heard her cry beside his head. Why was she crying? He had done what she asked him to do. He hadn't tried to kill the woman until she hadn't tried to kill him. So why was she sad? He didn't understand.

"Please ... please ... that's enough ..." he heard her mutter between sobs. Somehow, seeing her so sad made him sad as well. Such a reaction surprised him, as he didn't remember ever being sad before. Simply, he had never before encountered a situation that actually saddened him: torture, death, loneliness ... They were all part of his life, there was no reason to be sad about it. And yet, seeing that girl cry on his shoulder made PARIAH feel sad for the first time. Clumsily hugging Henrietta with his already normal arms, he tried to comfort her as best he could. While he wasn't used to being hugged yet, he was even less used to hugging others.

"Don't cry ... don't cry ..." PARIAH pleaded, awkwardly, not knowing how to solve that situation. How could he make the princess stop being sad? "Ok, I won't do it anymore… but don't cry…" he said, drawing Henrietta's attention, who looked at him with teary eyes.

"Y-you…you promise?" She asked, uncertainly. PARIAH hesitated to respond. After all, killing was the only thing he knew how to do, what he did best, even what he liked to do from time to time. If he had to stop doing it, what was he supposed to do from now on?

"Yes, I promise" he responded, much to Henrietta's surprise and joy. Wiping her eyes, the princess stood up, before turning to Agnes, who had seen all from the floor.

"Captain de Milan," she said with clear voice, alerting Agnes and causing her to quickly stand up and square. "We will talk about what have happened here today. Right now..." Henrietta rubbed her right temple, obviously exhausted. "... I need time to think."

Henrietta left the courtyard, followed by her familiar. Agnes, still standing on the same spot, made great efforts to contain the tears that struggled to sprout from her eyes. The look of disappointment and sadness in the princess's eyes ... What had she done ...?

* * *

Far from there, Tristania's Academy of Magic:

Just as usual, the Vallière girl had managed to explode her spell.

One would think that she could do something as simple as s summoning correctly, but somehow, the result instead of a familiar had been a tremendous explosion that raised a huge cloud of dust that made her fall on her ass.

As the stunned students began to recover from the shockwave, some began to make cruel comments about the girl's apparent ability to always fail at using magic, who looked with sad resignation what she and everyone assumed was another failure in her long list of mistakes. However, while the dust was starting to settle, something began to appear on its centre.

Louise Françoise LeBlanc de la Vallière and the rest of the students looked surprised at the mysterious figure lying on the floor. At first glance, he looked like an ordinary human, although he wore strange clothes that they hadn't ever seen before. His suit looked like a strange combination of cloth and armour, with a peculiar pattern of different shades of green. A thick dark breastplate covered his chest, equipped in turn with bags and with a matching bulky belt on his hip. In his right hand was a strange contraption, similar to ... well, it didn't really look like anything they had ever seen before, but it had what appeared to be a butt and a trigger, so it must be some kind of weapon. A helmet the same colour as his clothes covered his head, with a handkerchief that covered his features and left only his eyes in sight, preventing students and Colbert from deducing anything from his appearance.

Gradually, the mysterious newcomer started to awake and stand on his feet, watching everyone with confused eyes. Upon standing, Louise found that he was quite taller than her, about the height of their teacher, Jean Colbert, although some extra centimetres taller.

"Where ... where am I?" He asked, revealing a young but mature voice. Quickly, professor Colbert emerged from his stupor, and stepped forward to answer the confused young man.

"You are currently in the grounds of the Academy of Magic of Tristania. I am professor Jean Colbert, in charge of this class " Colbert explained, smiling kindly, while holding out his hand somewhat suspiciously to the newcomer. "And you are…?"

Although visibly confused, the young man shook his hand. Taking off his helmet and handkerchief, he revealed that he wasn't much older than them, maybe by three or four years. His hair was black and quite dishevelled, with a small beard trace adorning his pleasant features, and light blue eyes that seemed typical of someone with a sympathetic character, although they possessed a strange shine that Colbert could not identify, but find strangely familiar.

"Sergeant Hiraga Saito, infantry division of the army of the United States of America. My pleasure" said the newcomer in a firm tone, surprising Colbert, since he didn't expect the young boy to be a soldier. At least, that was what he understood he claimed to be. "Sorry if I misunderstood you, but ... did you just say "magic academy?"

Louise, meanwhile, looked surprised at the man her summoning spell had called. What ... what did just happen?

* * *

**And Hiraga Saito makes his appearance, although not as we know him and remember. What has happened so that our beloved Japanese has ended up as sergeant of the American army? What will happen when he meets PARIAH? You will know on another occasion ... surely ...**

**Also, I'd like to apology for the delay with which I'm uploading this fic. I'm trying to pass my college exams, and it took most of my time. I'd try to upload more chapters from time to time, I only ask you to be patient. Also also, I'd like to know what you think of this translation, because I can't help but think that some parts haven't been translated correctly. I tend to use Google translator for the most part, reviewing it and correcting any mistake I manage to find, but some things may elude me.**

**Bye bye**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Blood

After the incident in the courtyard, things became slightly tense in the palace. Through Agnes, Henrietta discovered Mazarin's involvement in the affair and his repeated attempts to kill Pariah. To say that Henrietta was furious when she found out was an understatement.

After having her guards arrest the Cardinal, she had him brought before her, where she demanded that the crestfallen, kneeling Cardinal explain to her why he did what he did. The Cardinal, with regret, tried to explain the reasons that had led him to commit those acts that, in Henrietta's opinion, could almost be considered acts of treason against her.

"Your Majesty, I am not going to apologize for something that I think was necessary to ensure your safety." Mazarin said, with more aplomb than he really felt. "That... being that you have summoned is not the most suitable for you. He is dangerous, we do not know anything about him, and as if that weren't enough, he has already attacked you for no reason."

"He didn't attack me, Cardinal. After the engraving of the rune of the familiar, he... considered it appropriate to mark me in his own way."

"He marked you! You, the princess! How many more proves do you need to see...?"

"He is not! ... a threat, Cardinal" Henrietta said, trying to tackle her anger. "From the moment that Pariah set foot here, he has not once shown a violent attitude towards anyone... At least, for no reason…" she added, looking sideways at Agnes, who stood still at the side while looking forward. While she tried to remain calm, it was clear that the matter had affected her quite a bit.

"What about when he beat up the whole body of knights as soon as he arrived, and when he barricaded himself in the tower, seriously damaging several knights and musketeers, and what about the state of Lord Wardes?" exclaimed the Cardinal, exposing in no uncertain terms each and every one of the faults he saw in that familiar. His abilities were nothing like those of any other being they had seen before. He was... he was like a demon. A seemingly unstoppable demon.

"Pariah was confused coming here" explained Henrietta. "He had spent many years in seclusion, from the very moment of his birth, and the sight of him being suddenly dragged out into the open confused and frightened him greatly". Henrietta looked sadly at the Cardinal, but she quickly recovered. "Far from trying to understand him or know what was wrong with him, we chased him with swords and cornered him in a tower, as if he were an animal. How, Cardinal, did you expect him to react to such treatment? You say you know what he really is, but have you bothered to talk to him, to find out what he really is like and why?"

Henrietta approached the Cardinal, who felt the weight of the young woman's gaze undermining her courage, unable to look her in the eye.

"I have, Cardinal Mazarin, and I have discovered many things about him. I know that, despite having lived apparently longer than me, he had never before set foot outside the cell in which he was locked up. I know that he has been treated like a monster by the same people who separated him from his mother, locked him up, and tortured him for over thirty years. I know that he is scared, confused, and that everything he sees or is surrounded by is new to him, and that he still doesn't know how to live with other people like a normal person, because no one thought it was necessary for him to learn how to do it".

Henrietta knelt down in front of Mazarin. He looked up slowly and was surprised to find that, despite the princess's angry and hurt look, she had tears in her eyes.

"I... I know that despite all his abilities... despite his strength... he's... he's just a kid! A child who has no one else. He... only has me now."

For the first time since Pariah's arrival, Mazarin regretted a little what he had done. He had acted out of fear of the unknown, and had not bothered to truly understand the young familiar before acting.

"Your Highness...I..." Mazarin said, in a broken voice. "...I'm...I'm so sorry".

"It's not me you should be apologizing to... "she said, looking at the wall next door. Following her glance, Mazarin was surprised to see two feline-looking eyes appearing from one section of the wall. Those eyes moved, and the air around him moved with him, blurring a vague silhouette attached to the wall like a salamander. Suddenly, the air changed colour, revealing the shape of Pariah's body, which descended nimbly from the wall and went with a calm step towards the surprised Cardinal, without stopping looking at his eyes for a moment.

"Ah... you see, Mr. familiar... no, Pariah" said the Cardinal, bowing his head to the young familiar. "I must apologize to you. I may have treated you unfairly, believing I was right, when you haven't given us no reason to do so yet". Pariah's face still did not reflect any emotion, only his eyes showed a slight interest and curiosity in the words of the old man. "I know that you are still a mystery to me, and although it is true that I still don't trust you too much to leave you alone with the princess..." Henrietta was about to say something, but Mazarin was quicker. "... I am... willing to give you a chance, and this time it is for real. If the princess says you can be trusted, then I'll have to see it for myself. I promise won't try to attack you no more, and to give you the opportunity to prove your worth. Once again, I'm very sorry about what happened".

Henrietta allowed herself to relax a little when she heard the Cardinal. Looking at Pariah, she waited to see how he would respond.

PARIAH... didn't understand what was going on. I mean, he knew what an apology was, but no one had ever apologized to him before. He had heard insults, threats, cruel comments, even the occasional plea from some of the scientist he had eaten before he got them... but never before an apology. PARIAH looked at the princess out of the corner of his eye, wondering what she wanted him to do, and saw that the princess was looking at him somewhat expectantly. From what he could understand, the old man was important to the princess, even though she had been upset with him for trying to harm him. But... considering many people had tried (and succeeded) in hurting him before, at least he had done it for a good cause... sort of. He was still not entirely sure.

Shrugging his shoulders, PARIAH gave Mazarin a couple of pats on the head, as if he were a little dog that had done something funny.

"I forgive you" said PARIAH, surprising the Cardinal and making Henrietta smile.

"Thank you very much, young Pariah" said Mazarin. "I promise you things will change between us. I mean it".

PARIAH didn't say anything. He still didn't fully understand the issue. Why did he have to forgive that old man, when he wasn't the one who attacked him? Suddenly, Henrietta stood next to him and gave him a hug.

"Thank you" she whispered, and Pariah understood that, fortunately, he had done well not to crush the old man with a stomp (which had been his first impulse). And his reward wasn't bad. He liked the hugs.

"And now, you, knight de Milan" said the princess, turning to Agnes. Seeing that the princess' attention was focused on her, Agnes tensed up, squaring up as best she could. "I've had the opportunity to hear the Cardinal's motives. Do you wish to say anything in your defence to justify your actions?"

"Your Highness, with all due respect, the captain only followed my orders" said the Cardinal, trying to defend Agnes. "I'm responsible for..."

"Cardinal Mazarin, sir" said Agnes, interrupting him. "While I followed his orders, I am solely responsible for my actions" she added, resolutely. "I will accept whatever punishment Your Majesty deems appropriate for my crime".

Henrietta's gaze, which had previously been one of harsh indignation, had become one of sorrow and indecision. She really didn't want to have to punish anyone, especially the captain. From the very moment they had met, the captain had been a faithful member of her entourage, and more than once had protected her from dangerous situations. Punishing her for trying to keep her safe, even if it was behind her back, seemed wrong. However, she had made an attempt on hurting Pariah, and that she could not ignore either.

While trying to find a solution to her problem, Pariah advanced towards Agnes. She, seeing the deadly familiar approaching her with his usual neutral gaze, tensed, though she did not dare move from her seat. Somewhat frightened, though she forced her face away from him, she stood firm in her place, following with the look of the one she was sure would be her executioner. Not only had she tried to kill him, but in part she had almost... well, succeeded, or so she thought. She had shot him in the face, pierced his heart, plunged a dagger into his eye, and half severed his head, and not even that had stopped him. Resigning herself again to her fate, Agnes said nothing.

Henrietta watched nervously as Pariah approached the captain. She saw that the familiar seemed to be watching her with great interest, circling around her like a raven trying to decide where to start eating a tasty carcass, sniffing at her from time to time. For a moment, she wondered if Pariah would attack her. Mazarin had been forgiven, but it was Agnes who had attacked him directly, and he himself had tried to kill her. Despite his promise, he was partly entitled to take revenge, although Henrietta wished he would not. Henrietta noticed something else: Agnes was tense. Despite trying to keep her face expressionless, you could tell she must be terrified inside. No wonder: an unstoppable being that had attacked her was hovering around her like a predator. If Pariah decided to take revenge and attack…

"Pariah..." said Henrietta, trying to get his attention. However, Pariah ignored her.

Pariah stood behind Agnes, out of sight. "_That's it, now he'll finish me off"_ thought Agnes, resigning herself to her fate. _"I guess I deserve it. Princess... I'm sorry. I hope you live happily for the rest of your life..._" Agnes closed her eyes, preparing for the final blow.

A squeeze on the back.

A prolonged oppression.

Agnes opened her eyes, surprised. If that was his _coup de grâce..._ it wasn't a very powerful _coup_, all being said. Turning her head, she saw that the princess's familiar had rested his head on her back, rubbing it against her. Soon, a slight purr began to emerge from the bottom of his throat, as his head moved to the hand of the surprised knight. For their part, Henrietta, Mazarin and the other guards watched the scene with surprise and amazement. That... they didn't expect that.

Pariah continued to rub up against the lady like a kitten trying to get her owner's attention. Finally, he managed to slip under her arm, his head resting between her ribs and her waist. Not knowing exactly what to do, Agnes slowly lowered her hand, until it was placed on the head of the strange familiar, caressing him somewhat fearfully. Soon, the purring gained intensity, while Pariah closed his eyes and changed his expression to one of satisfaction, yet without smiling. Agnes couldn't help but blush a little. Seen that way, with his slight blushing cheeks, his placid expression of innocence and that little face...he was kind of cute. Almost like a little kitten, one of those that she loved to pet so much, but tried not to let anyone caught her doing so. She had an image to take care of.

"You are strong" said Pariah, suddenly, still cuddling with his eyes closed. "Would you fight me another time?" The question caught Agnes off guard.

"You're not... you're not angry with me?" she asked, somewhat hesitantly. "I mean... I tried to kill you."

"I can't die. Or at least, I don't know how to do it" he said. Agnes, who didn't know what to do next, kept on petting him.

Agnes looked at the princess, asking with her eyes if she was going to punish her in his place, or if she wanted to say something at all. Henrietta smiled, however, and shook her head. Relieved, Agnes started scratching him Pariah under his chin with her other hand.

"Understood. We'll fight another time."

By now, Pariah was already writhing in pure delight, clenching his fists in an attempt to control himself. Agnes, on the other hand, had suddenly lost her hesitation. Petting cats had always relaxed her, and for some reason that familiar was like a kitten, only bigger and more adorable.

Although surprised, Henrietta could not help but smile as she looked at the scene. Not only did Pariah seem to have forgiven the captain, but she seemed to have recovered from her shock as well. In fact, Henrietta didn't remember ever seeing her like this. She had seen her smile from time to time, but that happy and relaxed expression on her face was totally new to her. Even the guards in the room breathed a sigh of relief that Henrietta noticed, surely glad to see that her superior would be spared punishment.

Agnes stroked Pariah behind the ear, and he opened his eyes, startled, his cheeks suddenly red while his purring turned into a short moan of surprise and a chill visibly ran through his body. Before anyone could do anything to prevent it, Pariah parted from Agnes, and jumped out the nearest window, breaking the glass with his body. Agnes ran to see what had happened to the familiar, but she didn't see him fall.

"Hmmm..." she groaned, pitifully. Soon, Henrietta joined her by the window.

"You really wanted to keep petting him, didn't you?" she asked, faking innocence. Just as Agnes was about to answear yes, she seemed to recover and turned red as a tomato.

"No, I... I... no!" she exclaimed, babbling in shame. "Your Highness..." she complained, looking at how the princess seemed to find her reaction amusing.

Henrietta laughed a little at the beleaguered captain. At least things had been resolved with no more injuries than her window, something easily replaceable.

"Calm down, captain de Milan, it's all right. If Pariah has no objection, we can both share him from time to time. Come on, let's see if we can find him. Where'd he hide this time?"

* * *

And just like that, calm returned to the palace once again.

After the Cardinal's suspicions about Pariah had been partly dispelled, he agreed to remove the escort he had on the door of his room, and to allow him to leave whenever there was someone watching him. Henrietta, while still not entirely happy about it, agreed just to get the Cardinal to stop insisting on the subject. Besides, Pariah didn't seem to care. From time to time she received complaints from his escort, who expressed their displeasure when she was informed that Pariah had given them the slip by climbing the wall outside the castle, or by becoming invisible when turning a corner. Apparently, Pariah found it amusing to see his escort spend hours looking for him in vain, and he had made a game out of that activity that he never seemed to tire of.

Henrietta, for her part, continued her daily tasks with her family. She attended her classes with him, accompanied her everywhere when she had to go around the castle, and played with him in the brief moments she had free in her schedule. From time to time, Agnes herself was invited to this "private sessions", in which the princess would sit on the bed, lay Pariah's head on her lap, and have a good time petting him like a cute little animal. Although Agnes refused at the beginning, too stubborn and proud to show how much she liked to participate in those sessions, in the end she always ended up giving in, being together with Pariah the one who enjoyed those moments the most.

The days passed calmly, with the occasional isolated incident...

One day, Henrietta went to Pariah's room, and discovered that the walls and floor were covered with a strange black and red substance that was very sticky and hung around like thick cobwebs. When Pariah was asked what it was all about, he just shrugged his shoulders and took a crunchy bite of one of those things, as if it were an appetizer. Henrietta decided not to make any more comments or questions about it.

Another time, Henrietta came across a scene... quite interesting. As she was walking through the corridors, she heard a strange little sound, and by following it, she ended up in front of one of the castle's bedrooms. When she opened the door, she found Agnes sitting on a small stool visibly contented, and with Pariah behind, focused on stroking her head as she used to do on him. When the princess entered, she and Agnes were frozen, too surprised to know how to react. Pariah, on the other hand, continued with his task, provoking a new shudder to the knight and making her let out a weird moan. In the end, both Agnes and Pariah ended up kneeling in front of the princess, one with a gesture of shame, apology and regret, and the other without fully understanding what was going on. Henrietta, puffing up a cheek, scolded Pariah for distracting the captain from her duties, and Agnes for hoarding Pariah for herself.

One night, Pariah managed to sneak into Henrietta's room and get into her bed without waking her. The next morning, Henrietta found him beside her, curled on himself and breathing placidly. That day, Henrietta woke up in a good mood.

And finally, an event occurred that Henrietta, though it was alarming at first, would forever remember as one of the most fun receptions of her life.

A few days before, one of the nobles of Tristania had requested an audience with the princess to discuss a matter of land concessions, which, although it did not please the princess, she had no way of convincing the nobleman to give in. That particular nobleman had not ceased in his efforts to get an audience until he had finally got his way, much to Henrietta's dismay, who was forced to make use of her free time to receive him. As always, Pariah hovered on the roof of the throne room, hiding in the shadows and mimicking a corner, watching everything without anyone knowing where he was.

The nobleman had made an appearance wearing an elaborated fashionable suit, a little overdone for Henrietta's taste. His shoes and tights had many unnecessary ribbons, his vest was brightly coloured and striped, his cloak had elaborate embroidery, and on his head rested a hat with so many feathers that it looked like a bird in itself. In fact, Henrietta couldn't help but smile when she saw that it was indeed shaped like a bird. As the nobleman approached her, the long edges of the hat moved up and down, like the wings of a raven. A slight growl echoed through the room, drawing the attention of both Henrietta and the nobleman, but failing at finding out what had provoked it. Although the nobleman shrugged his shoulders, Henrietta managed to recognize that sound: Pariah had found something interesting.

The only question was… what was it?

"Your Highness" saluted the nobleman, bowing to her and taking off his hat. Every time he shook it, some feather fell from it, while its wings continued to sway up and down.

"Count D'Oren, thank you very much for coming. What...?" Out of the corner of her eye, Henrietta saw that Pariah had started to descend the wall face down, looking with his bright red eyes at the count's hat. By the time the count turned to see where the princess was looking, Pariah had already disappeared, mimicking once more the wall. "…to what do I owe the honour of your presence here?" she asked, smiling somewhat nervously at her guest. The count turned again, somewhat puzzled by the princess's behaviour.

"Your Majesty, I have come on the subject of the granting of land from the villages near my borders" he explained, causing Henrietta to sigh slightly, though not enough to show how tired she was of having to repeat the same thing to that man over and over again.

"As I have already stated, my dear count, I simply can't grant you the lands you demand from me…" Pariah appeared again, crouched to one side and underneath the Count, following with his head the movement of the hat in the hand of its inadvertent owner. Henrietta looked nervously at the feral interest that her familiar seemed to have in that hat, which she kept watching with her slit pupils almost completely dilated. Pariah disappeared once again "...those...those lands were bestowed to Baron Isírol, and without a compelling reason, I simply cannot..."

"Your Highness, with all due respect" he interrupted, "those lands should belong to my family. Our military achievements are greater, and our genealogy extends beyond that of a simple baron, and more so in the case of one with such...humble origins...as those of baron Isírol" he commented, the disdain clear on his voice. "I must insist that you see reason and transfer its property to me."

"Dear Count, I..." Pariah appeared on the other side of the count, stretching out both hands in an attempt to remove his hat. Henrietta tensed..." DON'T!" Pariah was startled by the sudden scream, and he blended in again. Relieved that her familiar had been stopped, Henrietta looked at the surprised count, who obviously had not expected that shout either. Henrietta quickly recovered her composure. "…don't expect that by simply demanding that I change my mind, I will do so. The lands shall remain under the Baron's rule, and that's that."

Obviously the Count did not seem pleased, but he bowed nonetheless, and put on his hat, throwing more feathers by waving it furiously.

"So be it, but hear me now, Your Highness" he proclaimed, vehemently. Henrietta looked at him with a neutral expression, tired of having to hear the same thing repeated over and over by that man. _"Now he will say that he won't stand this outrageous decision, and that he'll come back another day to demand justice and for what's rightfully his..."_ she thought with a mental roll of her eyes.

"I won't stand this outrageous decision!" Henrietta had to resist the urge to smile once seeing her prediction was right. "If it is necessary, and it is clear that it is, I will come here again..." Henrietta seemed ready to let the Count expatiate all he wanted again, but then, she noticed that Pariah had appeared once again, hanging from the ceiling with his legs abnormally stretched as if they were made of those strange red and black fibres of his, and with his hands up and ready to grab the count's hat. Henrietta tried to dissuade him with a slight gesture, but having the Count watching her every move prevented her from catching her familiar attention without being noticed. "…and I will claim what by blood shall had been min- eh?" he asked, finally noticing the presence of the familiar, just as he was going to reach the hat. Fast as lightning, Pariah tried to grab it, but failed when the count fell to the floor, shocked. Frustrated, Pariah jumped with a turn in the air to the ground, crouched like a panther and staring at the count, who in response acted according to his noble disposition and his nerves of steel, typical of someone born in a house as noble as his own.

"Yiiiiaaaaaaah!" he exclaimed, an octave above his usual voice. Quickly, the count started running all over the room, while Pariah followed him running on all fours like a predator, jumping from the wall to the floor and from the floor to the wall while preventing his prey from reaching the door, and forcing him to run around the room under the astonished look of the princess, who could not help but laugh a little at such a comical and unexpected spectacle.

"Please, for the love of Brimir, take him away from me" shouted the frightened count, as Pariah grabbed his cloak with his teeth and pulled it back, shaking it as a dog would do with a toy. The count managed to get rid of the cloak, which Pariah quickly discarded as soon as it stopped moving, resuming the chase. Finally, Pariah passed over the count with and athletic feline jump, and managed to catch the count's hat while in the air with his teeth. Although the count tried to retrieve his hat with both hands, his strength was no match for the power of Pariah, who refused to release his prey. Finally, the count gave up on it, and decided instead to ran to the door, through doing so without addressing the princess again, who by then was already laughing at ease, trying in vain to calm down.

"Well, I doubt I'll be back any time soon" said Henrietta in a funny tone, wiping away the tears that had been brought to her eyes for laughing so much. Getting up from her throne, she went to where Pariah had sat, still on all fours like a cat, while chewing on his price as it was a toy. "That was not very nice of you, Pariah" Henrietta scolded him, trying not to smile too much so that Pariah would understand that what he had done was wrong. Although at first he looked at her as if he did not understand what she meant, in the end, the serious and determined look of the princess made Pariah submit, looking down at the floor with the hat still in his mouth. "On the other hand..." Henrietta bent down beside Pariah, and gave him a kiss on the forehead, surprising him. ... now we can play for the rest of the hour" she finished with a smile. Pariah got excited again. Playing, that he understood. Amused, Henrietta watched as her familiar jumped around the room, running through the walls and ceiling with ease. So energetic!

* * *

Days passed, until the day Henrietta had waited for so long finally arrived: the Tristain's Magic Academy Familiar Exhibition. The day she would finally meet her beloved childhood friend, Louise de la Vallière.

Everything was ready. Palace business? Fixed. Route? Supervised and monitored. Scheduled? Checked out in detail. Academy reception? Ready and willing to go. There was only one thing left to deal with...

"What am I going to do with you?" Henrietta asked Pariah with a tired sight, giving him another of his favourite cookies, herself eating one and sitting on her bed while Pariah sat on the floor in front of her.

"Have you thought of leaving him here?" asked Agnes, kneeling behind Pariah as she caressed him, her cheek resting on the head of the familiar. "Cardinal Mazarin would be more than happy to keep an eye on him in your absence."

"Yes, I'm sure he'd love to..." answered Henrietta in a scathing tone. Although the Cardinal had agreed to leave Pariah alone for most of the time, he still did not trust him completely. Every time Henrietta said to take him out of the palace, or leave him to his own devices, the Cardinal always strongly opposed it. If she left Pariah there alone with him, he would surely try to lock him up again.

"Well, bringing him with us is not an option either" said Agnes, despite the fact that she was quite comfortable caressing Pariah.

"Yes, I know. I know I can't just show up there with a kid and say he's my familiar. At best, they'll think he's a slave! But..."

"Also, we don't know how he'll react out there. If it makes him nervous enough to go out in the yard, I don't even want to think about what will happen if he were to get out of town."

"Captain de Milan, Pariah is a child. I just can't have him locked up inside the castle's walls forever!" replied Henrietta, determined. "Besides, whether I want to or not, Pariah is my familiar, and the duty of every familiar is to its master wherever they go. I'm not leaving him behind."

Agnes sighed.

"Well, I guess we're back to square one..."

Pariah immediately noticed the dejection of the two young women, and looked at them with his usual gesture of curiosity.

"Is something wrong?" He asked, causing Henrietta to smile sadly at him and kneel down beside him too, running her hand over his head and over his cheek.

"It's all right. We were just wondering how we were going to manage to take you with us without people noticing who you truly are, that's all."

"Why?" he asked, somewhat flushed by the caresses.

"Because... they wouldn't understand. There has never been a familiar like you before, and people would be surprised to see you." Suddenly, he stood up.

"And if they didn't know it was me" he asked Henrietta, "then would there be a problem?" The question puzzled Agnes and Henrietta.

"Well... No, I guess. not If they did not know who you were, then there would be no problem at all" replied Henrietta, who did not know what her familiar was up to.

Turning to Agnes, Pariah instructed her to stand up too. Somewhat suspiciously, Agnes did so. Suddenly, Pariah raised his right hand as much as he could, drawing the attention of both Henrietta and Agnes. For a few seconds, nothing happened.

"Ehm… what are you- AUCH!?" She exclaimed, raising her RIGHT hand. As they both were focused on his right hand, neither of the two young women realized that Pariah had turned the forefinger of his left hand into a dagger, until he quickly plunged it into the back of the captain's hand, causing it to bleed a little. Before they could say anything, Pariah licked the drop of blood that stained his finger, walking resolutely to the full-length mirror that rested at the side of the room. Wondering what Pariah was up to, Agnes and Henrietta watched as he stood in front of the mirror.

Suddenly, Pariah's body began to change. His skin began to curl, as it broke into numerous red and black tentacles that twisted frenetically everywhere. Before either of them could understand what was happening, Pariah began to re-shape himself. His body became longer, and its basic structure changed. His hair, formerly white and dishevelled, became blond and more upturned. His clothes turned into a musketeer's uniform, and his face became completely different. Finally, by turning his abnormal eyes into more human ones, Pariah's body returned to normal...more or less...

"It..it's…" Henrietta tried to say, as he watched Pariah turn around and observe his new appearance, too stunned to complete her sentence.

"…it's me…" said Agnes, completing it for her. To everyone's surprise, Pariah had become a perfect replica of the captain. With evident curiosity, Pariah began to look at every part of his new body, from his now long legs to his new hair. He waved his new cloak in delight, looking at himself in the mirror as Henrietta and Agnes looked at him with their eyes big as plates. They've never seen anything that it before. The only beings capable of such a thing, the dopplers, were thought to be extinct by poaching for centuries.

Transformation, strength, resistance, regeneration... How many more surprises did that child hide?

Pariah turned to the stunned pair, posing with a smile on his face and winking at them, the other eye so bright that it seemed that little stars were coming out of it. While Agnes was gaping, completely in shock, Henrietta had to make real efforts not to laugh out loud. She had never seen the captain with such a feminine expression on her face or such a casual pose. Skipping protocol, Agnes looked sideways at Henrietta with an expression so serious and fulminating that the princess suddenly lost all desire to laugh (though she couldn't help but do so in her mind).

"Well, that's…that's a good try, Pariah, but... don't you think people will be suspicious when they see that there are _two_ captains?" Pariah blinked a couple of times. Clearly, that hadn't occurred to him. Turning his attention back to the mirror, he began to reflect on it.

Before the attentive look of his companions, the height of Pariah changed again, growing an inch or so. With his hands on either side of his head, Pariah began to squeeze, deforming his skull until it took on a slightly more elongated shape. With his fingers, he stretched his eyebrows, making them longer and thinner, and changed the colour of his eyes in two blinks, changing the dark green of Agnes' eyes to a more golden, honey-like colour. Grasping at the hair, he stretched it out until it reached the middle of his back, and darkened the original golden hair of the captain, passing to a dark brown that suited the colour of his eyes, though he retained a lock of the original yellow, which hung rebelliously in his fringe. Finally, he transformed her musketeer outfit into a maid's outfit, like the other palace maids.

Satisfied with the final result, Pariah turned around, posing again.

"Yes…yes, this could work" Agnes commented, thoughtfully, examining Pariah's new look. "We can say that she is His Highness' new personal maid, and thus avoid the rest of the service asking her too many questions. As long as he stays close to you, there shouldn't be any problem."

"Great! Problem solved" clapped Henrietta, happily. Just when she was about to ask Pariah how he did it, she noticed something.

Pariah, though he had been cheerful after the change, had changed his expression to one of childish anger, pouting as he placed his hand on his chest. Although he hadn't actually changed that area, it had grown along with his body, so his breast had increased a couple of numbers over the captain's.

"Is something wrong?" asked Henrietta, seeing him suddenly upset. To her surprise, Pariah put both hands on his breasts with a determined expression and squeezed them, making them disappear inside his chest. "Pariah, what are you doing?"

"It's heavy. It bothers me" he complained, making use of a female voice which sounded too young for his new body.

"But, Pariah... You were already ok just like that..." The princess's comment made Pariah think again, and catching his breath quickly, he held it on his cheeks, squeezing. Like ballistic missiles, his breasts seemed to explode and grew enormously in an instant, far exceeding size Q. Henrietta and Agnes' eyes almost popped out of pure surprise, somewhat flushed and gaping at the sudden change.

"Pariah, that's too much!"

"Change them back! Smaller, smaller!"

The confused familiar began to change, growing his chest and then shrinking it, trying to follow the confusing instructions of the two young women. At one point, Agnes tried to help him by grabbing his chest directly, which caused Pariah to feel a chill and run around the room, being chased by Agnes, who kept trying to catch him and calm him down. The chaos, the laughter and the commotion in that room could be heard from the corridor, Henrietta's laughter being the most heard.

* * *

Somewhere else in the castle:

It wasn't getting any better.

They had been examining Captain Wardes' condition for days, but he showed no signs of improvement. Fever, pain, strange bumps on his arm... They had tried to use magic to heal him, but whatever had infected him showed no sign of disappearing.

The old healer who had been caring for him returned to Wardes, wiping his sweaty brow, as he squirmed in an uneasy sleep in his bed. From his robe, the healer took out a small vial containing a very bright golden liquid. When it was uncovered, the smell of wildflowers and rainwater filled the room. "Essence of the Forest Spirit," a powerful healing potion.

"_I really hope this works_" he thought, unwrapping the bandages around the captain's injured arm. He really didn't look too good...

The captain's left arm... didn't look like much of an arm at that point. His flesh had swollen and reddened, though it was very soft to the touch. Numerous green and yellow pustules had appeared all over its surface, hard and impossible to explode. His fingers were so swollen he couldn't even move them anymore. Interestingly, the skin around the place where he had been bitten was white, with his veins very marked.

Little by little, the healer started pouring the liquid down the captain's arm. However, the moment the first drop touched him, the captain let out a roar of pain, the area where the liquid touched him being burned and releasing a peculiar white smoke, while the pustules twisted as if something was moving them from within. Wardes stirred, throwing a punch at the healer who, although he managed to avoid it, could not prevent him from breaking the flask in his hand, making several cuts with the glass fragments. In pain, the healer tried to step aside, clutching his wounded hand. Nothing, that didn't work either.

"Agh! Uhm… It's a shame, really..." he mused, heading for a closet. He took out some tweezers and bandages, and after sitting down at the side of the roomk, he started to heal his own wounds. "If he doesn't get better soon, we're going to have to amputate his arm."

Unnoticed by him, a small tentacle came out of Wardes' arm, slowly stretching until it touched the ground. From there, it began to crawl towards one of the bloody glasses that had fallen to the ground after the bottle broke. On contact with the blood, the tentacle absorbed it in a hurry, retreating and retracting to the arm again.

"Anyway. I hope that..." Just then, the healer noticed something. Captain Wardes... wasn't moving. He had spent the previous days churning and grunting, so that as soon as he stood still and quietly, the healer feared the worst. Ignoring the wounds on his hand, he ran to the captain, wishing with all his strength that it was not too late.

"Captain Wardes!" he said, hurrying to his side. The captain stood as still as a grave. "Captain Wardes! Can you hear me? Captain...!" Wardes' swollen arm shot up, grabbing the alarmed healer by the neck. Wardes' fleshy fingers clung with surprising force to the frail neck of the healer, who tried in vain to free himself, and before he could gasp or try to say anything, they snapped his neck. The body of the healer fell forward on Wardes, from whom thousands of tentacles came out and surrounded the body of the deceased old man, tearing it apart and fusing it with his own. In a matter of seconds, there was nothing left of the old healer, not even the tiniest drop of blood. Wardes' arm, surprisingly, had returned to normal, only a pale scar marking the place where PARIAH had bitten him. For the first time in many days, Wardes was breathing at ease.

He opened his eyes, momentarily revealing a greyish red in his irises that quickly faded to his usual grey.

Standing up, Wardes examined his left arm in surprise, unable to believe what had just happened. Although for him it had been like a dream... he knew it had been real. He could feel it. He could remember every sensation he felt during the attack, how that man's neck snapped like a twig in his hand, how his body tore him apart and feasted on his flesh, restoring his health. He remembered... the feeling of ecstasy that shook him for every second that it lasted. And he felt... strong. Very, very strong.

"More..." he said quietly, for yes...He needed more.

* * *

Two days later, royal road:

"Princess, a question, if you please" said Mazarin, sitting on the other side of the wagon in which the princess was travelling. When he heard that she was going to travel with her familiar, he had insisted on traveling with them, determined to keep watch over Pariah. Despite her protests, Henrietta had finally given in.

"Go on, Cardinal."

"You haven't seriously considered having your familiar participate in the Exhibition, have you?" he asked, looking at the princess. Instead of responding, she looked out the window with a thoughtful air.

The landscape outside was charming: a long meadow of tall grass, bordered by a lush forest and with the mountains in the background. The sky was clear, with some clouds decorating the blue vault as the sun warmed the earth. A group of royal knights travelled around their carriage, together with a group of musketeers leaded by the captain de Milan. And then there was Pariah, although...

As soon as they left the palace, they had encountered the first problem. The horse they lent Pariah to ride simply ran away in a panic. The second soon followed, and the third fell to the ground, dead from a heart attack. While Pariah joyfully accounted for the remains of the beast (where no one could see it, by Henrietta's own order), the princess had decided that she would travel with her in the carriage until they reached the Academy. There, he would mingle with the group of knights, musketeers and the rest of the service, so as not to attract attention.

Afterwards, Pariah had spent most of the way with his face glued to the glass of the carriage, beholding the changing landscape outside with his eyes big like plates. Although they had tried to contain him while the entourage had been leaving the city, passing through a parade organized in her honour (more than one had wondered who was the mysterious maid in the princess's carriage, stuck to the glass like a limpet while the Cardinal pulled her in vain), since they had reached the royal road they had left him to his own devices. And there he was, with his body back to its original appearance, looking with great interest at the outside world.

"The truth is, as much as it weighs on me, I have to agree with you on that. I mean, it's not an easy subject to deal with, precisely" said Henrietta. Mazarin nodded.

"My thoughts exactly. So it's better that you don't..."

"I'm still going to participate, though" she finished, alarming the Cardinal. Before he could say anything (or as he was surely going to do, criticize), the princess stopped him. "Before you say anything, know that I have a plan to deal with the problem. In fact, just yesterday, I prepared with Pariah the act we are going to present, and I can assure you that it won't consist on anything dangerous or suspicious. Be calm..." Mazarin was far from calm, but if the princess had already made up her mind, there was little he could do to make her change her mind. Sighing, he glanced sidelong at the princess's familiar, who had kept out of the conversation. He continued to look with feverishly curiosity at everything outside, shaking and moving restlessly in the carriage, so much so that on one occasion they had to call his attention to prevent him from overturning the wagon.

"Do you want to go outside?" asked Henrietta to Pariah. Turning around, she and Mazarin saw that, while his expression remained the same, his eyes shone with little stars of pure emotion, as he nodded vehemently several times. After ordering a momentary stop, Henrietta asked for the door to be opened. One of the guards approached and, with a bow, opened the door.

"Go ahead, Pariah. You can go out to..." Before the princess could finish her sentence, Pariah rushed out of the carriage with such strength and speed that the whole wagon was momentarily tilted on two wheels, shaking the Princess and the Cardinal, both of them evidently surprised. Under the astonished gaze of the princess and her escort, Pariah rushed out into the field, running so fast that he tore up pieces of ground with every step.

Recovering from the initial shock, Henrietta peeked out to watch her familiar run gaily through the countryside...tearing it up a bit in the process. He ran back and forth like an exhalation, several times faster than the fastest horse, while jumping several feet high from time to time, creating little earth tremors as he fell. And yet, he never stopped smiling for a moment.

Henrietta smiled as well. It seemed that Pariah was no longer that afraid of the outdoors, and it was great to see him so happy. He must have been really frustrated at having spent so much time locked up, and now that he had room to run she couldn't even imagine how he must have felt.

"Mazarin, let's rest here for a while" she said, sitting back in her seat.

"Are you sure? It's still a long way to the Academy."

"Of course. Let him enjoy this for a while." Mazarin bowed his head.

"As you command, Princess."

...

Several hours later, the entourage finally arrived at the gates of the Academy, where a large crowd of students had already gathered to welcome the Princess of Tristania. Smiling, Henrietta descended from the carriage with grace and elegance as soon as the doors opened, provoking great exclamations from the students, especially from the male sector. Even some girls reluctantly admitted that the princess possessed some fair and astonishing looks, who smiled at them and greeted them with politeness and kindness. Mazarin smiled, still in the carriage. Yes, the princess was very much loved by her people.

"Okay, Pariah. Now it's our turn. We are going to..." Surprised, he saw that the familiar of the princess, again transformed into a maid, had crowded into the back of the wagon, contemplating the noisy crowd with a face of terror. Mazarin was speechless. "… is something wrong?"

"Many...people..." he said, gazing at the scene outside. The royal guard had gone after the princess, while the body of musketeers waited behind. Agnes came near the door, steady.

"What is going on? You have to get out now!" she whispered without turning, trying not to move her mouth too much.

"I think the princess' familiar is panicking. He won't come out."

"What?" she half asked, half screamed in a whisper. Quickly, she got into the wagon, and grabbed Pariah by the lapel. "Listen, and listen closely, Pariah. We are already here, so don't come at me now with panic attacks! You are going to go out there, you are going to parade like I showed you, and you are going to nail it, IS. IT. CLEAR?"

Pariah, although he was not easily intimidated... he actually felt a little intimidated by the captain. Nodding, he followed her outside, imitating the same posture as the other maids by the carriage.

Henrietta looked back discreetly, seeing that Pariah had finally got out of the car. From his expression, it was clear he was having a bad time. Crowd panic... That…was something quite unexpected, yet not unimaginable. Although Pariah had become accustomed to his presence and that of her closest circle, he was still very suspicious of strangers and large groups of people. And there there were both. Slowly, the musketeers began to advance, followed by the service that had accompanied the princess on her journey. Although Pariah moved stiffly like a statue, sweating great drops of pure nerve and shaking like a leaf, he tried to mingle with the other servants, trying (and failing) not to attract much attention.

"Look, it's the Musketeers' Corps!" exclaimed one of the students.

"It's true what the rumours say. There are only women!"

"Such elegance…! Such presence…!"

"Yes, but... Did you see that maid? She doesn't seem to be feeling very well."

"Maybe she get dizzy during the trip?"

Smiling, though somewhat worried, Henrietta took an explicit look at Agnes to take care of Pariah. When she saw that she had understood it, she went to Principal Osmond, the head of the Academy, who, along with the rest of the faculty, had come out to receive her on one knee.

Unbeknownst to her, a certain rosy-haired young woman kept her eye on her.

"Hmmm, she's quite pretty" said the man beside her, a tall young man wearing green camouflage trousers and a black short-sleeved T-shirt that showed his muscular body. On his back hung an old sword, and at his waist rested a bulging belt and a peculiarly designed pistol.

"Keep quiet, familiar" the young woman ordered. Turning his attention to the princess again, the young warrior, named Saito, could not help but notice the happy expression on his young companion's face, Louise, where usually only her stubborn expression of perpetual anger was visible. Smiling, he looked with an eyebrow raised at the much adored princess. What was the relationship between those two...?

* * *

Several hours later:

"Pariah, how do you feel?" asked Henrietta in a worried voice to her familiar. As soon as she greeted the old director and the rest of the faculty, Henrietta had paid a quick visit to the Academy, while she was being updated on their activities. Afterwards, they had been taken inside the main building, to the alcove specially prepared for the princess' visit. Once she, Pariah, and a handful of guards, including Agnes, were left alone, Henrietta had seen that Pariah had curled on himself in a corner, with black clouds over his head and an air of depression that seemed to darken the room. Comical drops of sweat fell from everyone's temples when they saw him. What had become of that energetic familiar who had destroyed half a meadow just by running in it?

"Don't worry, Your Highness. I think he's just a little nervous" said one of his knights. "I once had a cat who also seemed a little like this when I took him somewhere new, or with lots of people."

For a moment, Henrietta imagined her familiar as a kitten: soft palms, little white ears on his head, and two big, shiny, slanted eyes like... well, like his, but less threatening, as he looked at her tenderly and said: "Nyaaa~!"

Henrietta couldn't resist it. She threw himself on Pariah's neck, hugging him and rubbing his head with her cheek.

"Aaaah, what a cutie you'd be as a cat...! Hihihihi~" exclaimed Henrietta, causing Pariah to blush and her knights to sweat again. That... was a bit violent to witness. Agnes, at the mention of Pariah as a kitten, imagined Pariah stretched out on his back with his little cat's paws and ears, looking at her tenderly as if he were asking to be stroked on his tummy. Just the thought of it... Before any of the knights could caught her smiling somehow foolishly, she quickly tried to calm down, coughing a little to disguise herself.

KNOCK, KNOCK. Someone knocked on the door. Henrietta turned quickly, and Pariah took the opportunity to escape, mimicking the walls around them. Somewhat annoyed that he had escaped her, she stood up and stretched the hem of her dress.

"Come on in." The door opened, and a maid entered the room.

"Excuse me, Your Highness, but we've brought you a little refreshment for you and your knights. If we may…" she said with a bow. At the corridor, several servants were waiting with carts full of food.

"It's okay. You may."

With trained elegance and coordination, the servants arranged the different carts, all loaded with plates full of appetizers and drinks. Once they were done, they bowed politely, and left the room. Henrietta waved her knights off at lunch.

"Princess, but…!"

"You've been traveling all day, like me, and I'm sure you couldn't even eat properly while on horse. I insist, go ahead. I will eat once you've given the relay to those at the door" she said, not taking no for an answer. While the knights were thanking her and getting ready to eat, Henrietta went to her bedroom, at the opposite side of the room. Once there, she closed the door, taking a long, tired sigh.

"Pariah, are you there?" she asked in a whisper, taking a tentative step forward as she examined the ceiling. A section of it seemed to flicker, and Pariah made his appearance, hanging on all fours from the ceiling. Pariah jumped down and stood beside Henrietta as she opened her trunk and pulled out a long brown cape. "Listen, Pariah. I need to go somewhere, and no one can know I'm gone. I need you to stay here and pretend to be me until I get back, understood?" Pariah thought about it for a few moments, and finally nodded, becoming a perfect copy of Henrietta in a matter of seconds. Smiling, the real Henrietta gave him a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thank you very much, Pariah."

Somewhat blushing, Pariah waved Henrietta goodbye, as she opened her bedroom's window and jumped out of it, performing a levitating spell in the air.

Thus, Pariah was left alone in the room, not really knowing what to do in the meantime. He started to wander around the room, opened every door and drawer he could find, tried the mattress of the bed, and spent almost five minutes bouncing on it, until someone knocked on the door. Startled, he tried to calm himself down and stood up, and quickly checked in the mirror that the costume was still in place.

"Who is it?" he asked, trying to sound like Henrietta. A knight's voice came through the door.

"Your Highness, your meal is ready. If you please…" At the mention of food, a loud growl resonated throughout the room, with its origin being the stomach of Pariah. Although the knight outside was stunned to hear such a sound coming from the princess's chamber, he had the good sense not to say anything.

"I'll... I'll be right there" said Pariah, smiling somewhat uncomfortably. Accepting the answer, the knight retreated once more.

Pariah breathed a sigh of relieve, looking at his image in the mirror. Pretending to be someone else was harder than it looked. If he had been able to eat Henrietta, he would have had enough memories to copy her so perfectly no one would notice the difference, but because he liked her so much, he didn't want to do so. So, he had to do it the old-fashioned way: using what he had seen and learned from their days together, and trying not to let it be known that "she" was actually "he". "_Be like her, be like her, be like her,..."_ was repeated over and over again, in his mind, like a mantra. Breathing in decisively, Pariah opened the door.

* * *

Louise's room, moments later:

"It's been a long time, Louise Françoise" exclaimed Henrietta, hugging her friend tightly. It had really been a long time...

She and Louise had known each other since they were very young. Their mothers had been childhood friends, and when Henrietta needed a playmate her own age, her mother took her on a visit to the Vallière mansion. Despite her initial doubts, Henrietta soon discovered that Louise really wanted to be her friend, not because of her status as a princess, but because of who she really was. They had lived through so many happy days of games and mischief. They laughed, cried, fought and explored every corner of the property. As they grew up, their visits became less and less frequent, until finally they stopped seeing each other altogether.

In spite of this, Henrietta never forgot Louise, and she never forgot her either. Although they could not see each other as much as they wanted to, they both wrote to each other from time to time, catching up on important events or just talking about this and that. However, nothing matched the feeling of having her right in front of you, of being able to hug her and talk to her in person.

"Princess!" Releasing herself from the embrace, Louise ran to kneel in front of her. "You surprised me. I didn't expect you to come here alone."

"You don't have to kneel before me, Louise. After all, we're friends, right?"

"I am not worthy of such treatment by Your Highness" she said, though the smile on her face indicated otherwise.

Then, Henrietta noticed the man accompanying her friend. At first glance, he looked like a mercenary or some kind of soldier, with his tall muscular body, his strange clothes and his sword. Leaning sideways on the wall, he had watched the two young women reunite with a smile on his face.

"And who is he? Is he your lover, Louise~?" she asked with a mischievous smile, causing Louise to turn completely red and the man to laugh.

"W-What?! No! This... this is my familiar, oddly enough." The man parted from the wall, bowing politely to the princess.

"Pleasure to meet you. My name is Hiraga Saito." And he gently took Henrietta's hand and kissed it elegantly, surprising Louise as he was not expected to behave so politely in front of the royalty.

"Pleasure to meet you, Mr Saito. So, he's your familiar... It is rare for a magician to summon a human as a familiar, I have to admit that" said Henrietta, although she also had to admit that her familiar was not what you would call "common" either.

"Yes... That reminds me, didn't you do the summoning ceremony lately too?" Louise asked her. "What familiar did you summon, Princess?"

"Ah, you'll have to find that out tomorrow during the Exhibition" commented Henrietta amusingly, winking at her.

"Oh? So, you are participating too?" Saito asked, and Henrietta nodded. "Well, I wish the best of lucks. But it won't matter, for I will be taking the prize with me, I shall warn you beforehand" he proclaimed with a smile, causing Louise to be angry with him for not knowing how to behave in front of the princess and tried to hit him with a whip. Dodging every attack, Saito made her run across the room, laughing as the frustrated rose-haired girl tried to catch up with him. Henrietta smiled. _"Louise seems to have summoned a good familiar. I'm happy for you, my dearest friend."_

"I beg your pardon for this dog's rudeness! I'm still working on it…" she said, looking sideways and furiously at Saito, who was staring at the ceiling as he whistled, his hands behind his neck, pretending not to notice anything. Henrietta smiled.

"It's all right. My familiar is also a little naughty from time to time." Henrietta held Louise's hands. "When the exhibition is over, I'll introduce you to him, you'll see. He's just so cute..."

"It will be my honour Princess" said Louise, smiling, and squeezing her hand as well.

Saito smiled. Yeah, he liked that Louise better.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the princess's bedroom:

"Well, it seems that the princess _was_ really hungry" said one of the knights, gazing in amazement at the mountain of empty plates which the princess had devoured in a matter of minutes. After calling her, the princess had headed for the table with the food prepared for her. Despite having eaten dinner before her, the knights had eaten poorly, preferring to leave most of it for the princess. Though somewhat slow at first, the princess had begun to empty the dishes at an impressive speed, her hands catching the food so quickly that sometimes it was only a blur. In less than three minutes, there was not a crumb left in the table. "Henrietta" giggled.

"More, please" he asked, holding out an empty plate to the knights. Gaping at it, they ordered the servants to bring more food. After a few moments, they appeared with another cart... that barely lasted ten minutes once it was approached to the princess. And a third cart. And a forth. By then, Agnes began to suspect something.

Just as she was about to ask for a fifth, Pariah/Henrietta felt the real princess coming. Finishing the dish he had taken, he rose from the table.

"Excuse me, my dear knights. I have to... change… into something more comfortable" As he tried to go back to the adjunct room, Agnes got in his way.

"One moment, "princess". I have to ask you something..." she said, stressing the word princess. Staring at Henrietta/Pariah with her arms crossed, she noticed that the "princess" seemed to be watching her somewhat nervously as she sweated a lot. It was clear that something was going on there...

"I think that... you see, I... Goodbye!" Suddenly grabbing Agnes by the shoulders, the "princess" took her aside, lifting her effortlessly and depositing her on the other side, under the surprised gaze of the knights and of Agnes herself. Before she could react and say anything, "Henrietta" came into the room and closed the door behind her.

"Princess? Princess!" exclaimed Agnes, banging on the door. While under normal circumstances she would not have addressed the princess so harshly, it was clear that something strange was going on. That strength... it had to be Pariah! Pariah, on the other hand, was leaning against the door, on his back, blocking it so that Agnes could not enter.

The window opened by itself, and the real Henrietta made an appearance, moved by a gentle gust of magical wind. Removing the hood that covered her head, he looked strangely at his familiar blocking the door.

"Pariah… what is…?" she asked quietly, receiving only an apology from his familiar and a shrug. Changing back to his normal appearance, Pariah waited until the princess had put her cloak back in her trunk and closed the window to get away from the door. Then, Agnes came in like an exhalation and quickly approach her.

"All right, Pariah, that's enough! What's going on? Where's the princess?" she asked, trying not to scream, although it was obvious she was quite upset.

"I don't know what you mean, captain" said Henrietta with an innocent air. Pariah, just in case, had become invisible once again.

"Don't try to trick me. I know perfectly that you are..." Just then, Pariah made an appearance, rubbing himself against Agnes' arm as if he was asking her for cuddles. Surprised, Agnes looked alternately at the familiar and the princess, who simply smiled at her innocently.

"Ah, yes, I get it, hahaha!" said Henrietta, laughing somewhat nervously. "You must be exhausted from the trip, captain de Milan."

"Hmmm" grunted Agnes, looking somewhat suspiciously at the princess. However, she was not about to question her words at her face, so she bowed and proceeded to leave the room.

"By the way" called Henrietta ", if there is any food left from the cart, please have it brought to me in the bedroom. I am quite famished" she said in a good mood, causing Agnes to put on a face of circumstance and gawk at the princess. After eating the equivalent of dinner for 15 people... she still wanted more?!

"_Either something very strange is happening here... or I've really been affected by the weariness of the journey_" was the conclusion reached in the captain's head, leaving the room with a depressed air as the princess said goodbye to her with a smile. Unnoticed by them, Pariah watched them in a corner, salivating at the mention of more food.

* * *

That night, inside the Academy's treasure vault:

Silence. Darkness. Airborne dust and cobwebs.

An imperturbable space, full of magical treasures from the past, never seen by more than a handful of people. On its pedestals rested swords that belonged to heroes of other times, volumes full of ancient and dangerous knowledge, remains of terrible creatures that endangered humanity centuries ago... Memories of other times.

Near the end of the vault, on a wide pedestal, rested two strange chests, each with a bronze plate at its base. Under the largest chest, one could read the words "Staff of Destruction", of unknown origin and provenance.

Next to it rested a smaller chest, with an identical plate underneath. This one, on the other hand, had other words engraved underneath, with their origin and provenance also unknown.

Something stirred inside it. Something that had been asleep for years… had finally woke up.

Soon... soon...

* * *

**Okay, we'll leave it here.**

**In the next chapter, the Family Exhibit, what will Pariah do? Will he meet Saito? What's in chest number 2?**

**All this and much more in...**

**The next chapter!**

**Also, I'd like to thank user "prenatural" for their advice on the use of another translator to translate "Roses and Throns". Thank you so much!**


End file.
